Posted on 11/01/2005 8:51:38 AM PST by steveegg
In picking Appeals Court Judge Samuel Alito for the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, President Bush gave his right flank what it wanted: a true-blue conservative. The question now is: Is Bush giving the country what it needs?
The nomination is troubling in that 1) it's liable to divide America rather than unite it, 2) it lessens the extent to which the court mirrors the nation's rich diversity and 3) Alito has taken worrisome stands on many issues. Still, Alito deserves the benefit of the doubt until he gets his day in court - or rather before the Senate Judiciary Committee - to make the case for his confirmation.
Bush had chosen White House counsel Harriet Miers to succeed the retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, but many conservatives vigorously objected, questioning whether Miers had the intellectual stamina to stay conservative. The nominee withdrew her name. Now, Bush has picked Alito, a judge who may be in the archconservative mold of Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
Prior to Miers, Bush had named Appeals Court Judge John Roberts to succeed O'Connor but switched to have him succeed Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who died in September. A guiding principle for Bush in the two previous nominations seemed to have been candidates with thin paper trails - the less to trip them up at the hearings.
Bush discarded that principle in naming Alito, who boasts a thick portfolio of opinions he's authored, the result of sitting on the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia for 15 years. Bush said that Alito "has more prior judicial experience than any Supreme Court nominee in more than 70 years." That experience, the intelligence he displays and his firm grasp of constitutional law are pluses.
But, regrettably, Bush declined to consult with Senate Democratic leaders in making his choice. A big reason President Clinton had relatively smooth sailing on his high court nominees is that he did consult with GOP leaders beforehand.
Another minus is that the nomination lessens the court's diversity. O'Connor herself had expressed the desire that her successor be a woman. O'Connor seems to have grown wiser about diversity as a result of her Supreme Court experience. She came to see the virtues of having a court that looks like America - doubtless a big reason she softened her opposition to affirmative action in recent years.
In losing a woman, the court with Alito would feature seven white men, one white woman and a black man, who deserves an asterisk because he arguably does not represent the views of mainstream black America.
Finally, many of Alito's opinions, often dissents, are worrisome. He was the sole justice on a 3rd Circuit panel in 1991 to regard a Pennsylvania requirement that women notify their husbands before getting an abortion as not an undue burden on access to the procedure. The Supreme Court specifically disagreed with his dissent in an opinion written by O'Connor.
In 1996, he was the sole dissenter when the 3rd Circuit upheld the authority of Congress to ban fully automatic machine guns. Also that year, he tried - in the end, futilely - to make it harder to bring discrimination complaints to trial.
These and many other issues deserve a thorough airing by the Judiciary Committee.
Ping
"...the country's rich diversity."
I think Justice Thomas would disagree with that statement.
Moron. Plus, I don't know whether Souter is actually a "man" so the numbers might be off...
baaaaaarf...
VIVA BUSH!
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper, owned by Lee Enterprises Inc., said Tuesday it is shedding 130 employees by offering early retirement packages, a move expected to save the paper up to $7 million a year amid an uneven advertising market.
Bush had chosen White House counsel Harriet Miers to succeed the retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, but many conservatives vigorously objected, questioning whether Miers had the intellectual stamina to stay conservative.How can they be a newspaper and get this so wrong?
America IS divided, as evidenced by the last presidential election. Bush won and the left just needs to accept that. He gets to pick who he wants for the SC. Obviously, if the left was happy about his choice, the right wouldn't be. Sorry, libs but you LOSE!
They're loser lieberals.
I don't know whether Souter is actually a "man" so the numbers might be off...He at least deserves a metro-sexual asterisk beside the designation of his gender.
If I subscribed to that newspaper I would cancel it immediately.
What liberal claptrap direct from the DNC fax machine. If Clarence Thomas is an asterisk, what is Ruth Ginzburg? Does she represent women or even Americans in general? She is so far left as to be off screen.
..and a black man, who deserves an asterisk because he arguably does not represent the views of mainstream black America
Liberal thought is racist and sexist. Period. Who the hell is this author to decide WHAT the view of mainstream black America is on ANY subject? Diversity, for diversity's sake? I want a court that will deliver JUSTICE, not look like a multi-racial multi-gender picnic!
How many blacks are on the MJS Editorial Board?.............And do they presume it upon theirselves to represent the vast majority of blacks?..........
Actually, I'd use Souter or Stevens for that example. They're just as moonbatty as Ginsburg, and they were nominated by Pubbies.
</i>Turn off italics.
Notice that this unsigned editorial - an unsigned editorials should generally be frowned upon, because they are a popular vehicle for cowards - does not deride Thomas' intellect. Leftists used to try that, but they lost that argument. Now they say that Thomas "deserves an asterisk because he arguably does not represent the views of mainstream black America." Well it's true that Thomas' view don't represent those of many or maybe most blacks. As if that mattered, and as if that were relevant to the judgment of a man and a judge.
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