Posted on 10/31/2005 10:10:39 AM PST by Reagan Man
BUSH PUTS DEMANDS OF FAR-RIGHT ABOVE INTERESTS OF AMERICANS
WITH HIGH COURT NOMINATION OF RIGHT-WING ACTIVIST ALITO
PFAW will wage massive national effort to defeat nominee
who would dramatically shift balance of Court
President Bush put the demands of his far-right political base above Americans’ constitutional rights and legal protections by nominating federal appeals court Judge Samuel Alito to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, said People For the American Way President Ralph G. Neas. “Right-wing leaders vetoed Miers because she failed their ideological litmus test. With Judge Alito, President Bush has obediently picked a nominee who passes that test with flying colors.”
“We had hoped President Bush would nominate someone with a commitment to protecting Americans’ rights and freedoms,” said Neas. “That’s what the American people want, and it’s what they deserve. Unfortunately, with Judge Alito, that’s not what President Bush has given us. He has chosen to divide Americans with a nominee guaranteed to cause a bitter fight.”
Neas said that People For the American Way will mobilize its 750,000 members and activists to wage a massive national effort to defeat Alito’s nomination and will work closely with its coalition partners to educate Americans about the threats posed by this nomination.
“Replacing a mainstream conservative like Justice O’Connor with a far-right activist like Samuel Alito would threaten Americans’ rights and legal protections for decades,” said Neas. “Justice O’Connor had a pivotal role at the center of the Court, often providing a crucial vote to protect privacy, civil rights, and so much more. All that would be at risk if she were replaced with Judge Alito, who has a record of ideological activism against privacy rights, civil rights, workers’ rights, and more.”
Neas said the President’s capitulation to the far right demonstrates the importance of our system of checks and balances and the importance of the Senate’s role in that system. “President Bush wasn’t willing to stand up to the far right, so Americans must count on senators to stand up for the Constitution,” said Neas. “Americans will have to live with the next justice long after President Bush has left office.”
Neas called on senators from both parties to take seriously their obligation to make a careful independent evaluation of the nominee’s record and judicial philosophy, especially given the red flags raised by Judge Alito’s record. “It is senators’ duty not to act as rubber stamps for the President’s nominees, but to examine all the evidence about the nominee’s record and make an independent judgment. We are confident that a careful examination of Samuel Alito’s record and judicial philosophy will ultimately lead to his rejection by the Senate.”
A preliminary report on Alito’s record is available from People For the American Way. Highlights of that record are included below.
Leading a Revolution Against Laws Protecting Individual and Other Rights
Alito is a leader of the radical right legal movement to prevent the federal government from enforcing civil rights protections and otherwise acting on behalf of the common good. According to one of Alito’s opinions, Congress had no authority to require state employers to comply with the Family and Medical Leave Act through payment of damages when they violate the law, a ruling that was repudiated by the Supreme Court. The late Chief Justice Rehnquist, a fellow ultraconservative, wrote the court’s decision. Alito also dissented from a ruling by the Third Circuit that Congress has the power under the Commerce Clause to restrict the transfer and possession of machine guns at gun shows.
Against Basic Protections for Workers
Alito’s record shows an alarming trend toward standing against protections for workers. In a number of dissenting opinions, Alito has taken positions that, if adopted, would have made it more difficult for victims of race and sex discrimination to prove their claims. In one case involving claims of race discrimination, the court majority sharply criticized Alito’s dissent, stating that his “position would immunize an employer from the reach of Title VII” in certain circumstances.
Hostile to Privacy and Reproductive Rights
Alito wants government to be able to interfere in personal decisions on reproductive rights. In one case, Alito attempted to uphold a provision of Pennsylvania’a restrictive anti-abortion law requiring a woman in certain circumstances to notify her husband before obtaining an abortion. Alito’s colleagues on the Third Circuit and Supreme Court disagreed, and overturned the provision.
Fails to Consider Racial Discrimination in Capital Punishment
In one case that came before Alito, an African American had been convicted of felony murder and sentenced to death by an all-white jury from which black jurors had been impermissibly struck. Alito cast the deciding vote and wrote the majority opinion in a 2-1 ruling rejecting the defendant’s claims. The full Third Circuit reversed Alito’s ruling, and the majority specifically criticized him for having compared statistical evidence about the prosecution’s exclusion of blacks from juries in capital cases to an explanation of why a disproportionate number of recent U.S. Presidents have been left-handed. According to the majority, “[t]o suggest any comparability to the striking of jurors based on their race is to minimize the history of discrimination against prospective black jurors and black defendants.”
The Future of the Supreme Court
The current vacancy on the Supreme Court is the second this year, and additional vacancies may occur in the next few years. Many important cases in recent years have been decided by just one or two votes, often with Justice O’Connor casting a decisive vote to uphold critical rights and liberties. Confirming additional far-right judicial activists like Samuel Alito to the Court would threaten hundreds of Supreme Court decisions that protect privacy, civil rights, religious liberty, reproductive choice, clean air and water, worker rights, consumer safety, educational opportunity, and much more.
“We are going to make sure that Americans understand what is at stake,” said Neas, “and how President Bush’s nomination of Samuel Alito threatens fundamental rights and legal protections.”
And the battle begins!
Bring it on!
Let's roll!
Kerry voted for Alito before he will vote against him.
You can bet these scumbags are putting down payments on brand new 2006 Volvos in anticipation of all the donations that this nomination will bring from the suckers in San Fran and Bahston!
The liberals remind me of European WW1 tactics: Human wave attacks on machine guns.
As Lee said, It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it.
The same can be said for the culture wars raging today.
Things to Know About Alito
[Mark R. Levin 10/31 07:48 AM]
Sam Alito has spent his entire professional career defending the Constitution. The president and Alito deserve our strong support. It is clear the media this morning are urging Democrats to fight this nomination, not that they need that much encouragement. We are already hearing the usual superficial analyses about how Judge Alito will vote on specific issues, and so forth. We must be prepared to explain and defend our judicial philosophy, and contrast it with the left's lawlessness.
I have known Judge Alito for two decades. We served together in the Meese Justice Department, where he worked in the Solicitor General's Office and was considered the sharpest of Charles Fried's assistants. He is every bit as smart and personable as Chief Justice John Roberts. He is an expert on constitutional law. And he obviously has a longer judicial record, so his judicial philosophy is well-known. Judge Alito is soft-spoken. He is his own man (efforts in the media this morning to paint him as "Scalia-lite" or "Scalito" are intended to fire-up the leftwing base). If he is not qualified to serve on the Supreme Court, then no conservative is qualified.
I think I speak for most Americans
STFU
Highest FReegards,
Z
Yep, my sword is drawn, let the battle begin.
I bet Ms. Miers is looking pretty darn good to the left, now.
I think President Bush set the Democrats up with the Miers nomination and they were stupid enough to walk into the trap.
OK, I bet twelve days. (The amount of time until McCain and the other Repussycans start referring to Alito as an "Extraordinary Circumstance.")
Why is it when the left is in power they can nominate ACLU approved lawyers and judges but when the right is in power they are supposed to nominate "consensus" picks?
Up comes the howl from the moonbat left!
As Rush says, "This is what we've been waiting for."
I agree.
By definition, the Constitution defines the middle/mainstream and defending it is centrist.
If the "mainstream" wants something else, then they must amend the Constitution.
Snowe, Chaffey and Collins might be a questionmark right now. From what I've read this morning, Sen Specter seems to be supporting Alito's nomination.
Misleading attribution -- this is a PFAW press release but the link and author field make it sound like it's written by K-Lo at NRO.
Real source: http://www.savethecourt.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=mwK0JbNTJrF&b=865791&ct=1552291
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