Posted on 11/16/2005 8:35:12 AM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday said he has "significant concerns" about Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, calling President Bush's latest choice one of the most conservative judges in the United States.
"A picture of Sam Alito is emerging that may explain why the extreme right-wing is popping champagne corks," Reid, D-Nev., said in a Senate speech, referring to a 20-year-old document in which Alito asserted "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion."
Abortion rights activists are concerned that Alito and recently confirmed Chief Justice John Roberts would move the Supreme Court to the right and perhaps overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established abortion rights.
Alito touted his anti-abortion work in the solicitor general's office in his application to be deputy assistant attorney general in 1985. That was work, the younger Alito said, "in which I personally believe very strongly."
Alito, who has served on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the last 15 years, distanced himself from the document Tuesday. Democratic senators said that he assured them he would not act as an advocate on the court.
"I will work to ensure that Judge Alito is treated with civility and respect," Reid said. "But there is nothing disrespectful about an open and fair-minded review of a nominee's approach to the Constitution and his commitment to core American values like equality, privacy and fairness."
Bush nominated Alito last month as the replacement for retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has been a crucial swing vote on contentious issues, including abortion, during her 24-year high court career.
Alito was Bush's second choice after White House counsel Harriet Miers withdrew under withering criticism from conservatives.
"Harriet Miers was forced to withdraw by conservative activists who want to change the legal landscape of America," Reid said. "They decided she was inadequately radical or insufficiently aggressive for their purposes, so they gave her the boot."
Reid also complained that Bush did not consult with Democrats about Alito's appointment, saying he got a "a pro forma telephone call about an hour" before the Halloween nomination. He also said Bush passed up the chance to put another woman or the first Hispanic on the high court, instead choosing a white male.
"The appointment of Judge Alito largely fails to diversify the court," Reid said.
As Reid and other Democrats planned a coordinated assault on the conservative judge from the Senate floor, Alito was continuing his third week of private meetings with Republican and Democratic senators.
By inference you are suggesting Alito is radical. This is respectful Reid?
And yet our Senators cower to this mental lightweight that contradicts himself in his own statement.
Senator Reid, considering Miers was YOUR nominee why did you never vigilently defend her and announce you would vote for her confirmation? Could it be because you are full of it? Thank God the President put his finger in the air and bucked you the second time.
My only question is whether the U.S. Senate Republicans will continue to announce their intentions to be the minority Party in 2006. WOT and Judiciary are the biggest issues for those that vote for them. They've already waved the white flag on the WOT. They've allowed the filibuster to exist and still be used against other nominees. Will they cement their damn fates with Alito by not ensuring he is confirmed?
DeWine and Graham have already come out and said they will not support a filibuster. McCain is (of course) holding back now so the media will keep paying attention to him. Collins, Snowe and Chaffee are lost causes. Have Snowe and Chaffee already gone public with their "deep concerns"? I hadn't heard.
Now we can be sure Alito is the right man. If dusty doesn't like him I do.
Harry, Harry, Harry. When will you learn. You don't get to make the final decisions. Vote no, and STFU!
Yes, both have.
Two things. First, I believe that Reid is nominally Catholic. If he follows Catholic dogma he should not be upset by these remarks. Second, a judge is deemed "conservative" if he rules based on the original intent of the Constitution and other Federal laws. Unless a judge sometimes is an originalist and sometimes makes up law he cannot be "less conservative" than another originalist judge. In for a penny; in for a pound.
There is no doubt in my mind that they will fillibuster this nominee. To top it off, the 2 Senators from NJ will vote against him anyway.
Reid is not Catholic, he is mormon. Checked out the support of mormons for abortion?
Exactly. The extreme ones are those who feel the pre-born babies should die.
The modern-day cult of child sacrifice, those who want abortion to continue, is the problem. Pro-lifers are the solution.
I totally agree with you. Why is it that we who want no more killing of babies in the womb are the extremists? In every other case, these liberals bend over backwards to please every diversity group, except when it comes to pro-lifers and Christians. I am sick of it. Alito has a right to his own pro-life opinion. That doesn't insure he will vote to overturn Roe v Wade. He has managed to separate his personal beliefs with the existing law in many cases he has decided. Harry Reid and his other liberal senators disgust me. I really do wish we had 55 solid Republicans in the Senate, but we don't.
"Abortion rights activists are concerned that Alito and recently confirmed Chief Justice John Roberts would move the Supreme Court to the right and perhaps overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established abortion rights."
That line has more in it than people may realize. The idea that overturning Roe will end abortion is a myth perpetuated by the loonies on the left. All that would do is toss the abortion laws back to the states, where it belongs anyway.
The last part of that little sentence is telling. The Constitution did not establish abortion rights? Nope, the Supreme Court did. It may be simple semantics on my part, but words do mean things. Why did not the Supremem Court before 1973 find a right to abortion? Were those men just not as learned as the ones who found the right? It's anybody's guess.
I say overturn Roe, let the states decide. Maybe our founding fathers were smarter than liberals think.
Harry Reid is concerned about the abortion document? He's always claimed to be pro-life. So much for that.
Harriet Reid is a relentless a-hole.
I would like just one judge or politician to answer me one question.
If it's a constitutional right under the right to privacy to have an abortion.. then why isn't there that same right to do drugs or to drink alcohol.
Why can a 14 year old have an abortion without parental consent but we can't drink, do drugs, or even have sex under the same rules?
Hypocrites all of them!
"There is no doubt in my mind that they will fillibuster this nominee. To top it off, the 2 Senators from NJ will vote against him anyway."
So what?
They can make all the threats they want about fillibustering, but it is never going to be an issue, because Alito is qualified, and they all know it. Why they are making these absurd jestures at this point in the game is just to put up a front of being against Bush and his choice.
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