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Samuel Alito ~ Senate Judiciary Hearing [LIVE THREAD] (Day-4)
Senate Judiciary ^ | 1-12-06 | Senate Judiciary

Posted on 01/12/2006 5:14:27 AM PST by OXENinFLA

Day 4: Hearing Resumes

This morning, Senators will question Judge Alito during a third round. They will then go into a closed session, to review the FBI background investigation on the Supreme Court nominee. Outside witnesses may be called to testify this afternoon, as well as the American Bar Association, to discuss its recommendations.

THURS., 9:00AM ET, C-SPAN

Live Links

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CapitolHearings.org


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: 109th; alito; alitoakbar; alitohearings; alitorulz; babykilling; bidenisamoron; bush2rats0; clangingcymbals; demsareduds; emptybarrels; feingoldstinks; feinsteinreeks; judicialnominees; judiciary; kennedysucks; penumbra; scotus; senate; super; superdeduper; superduper; superduperduper; welldecided
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To: MEG33

LOL!


1,881 posted on 01/12/2006 11:05:33 AM PST by saveliberty (Proud to be Head Snowflake, Bushbot and a new member of Sam's Club)
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To: Howlin

Well, good for him, but where the heck has he been?!


1,882 posted on 01/12/2006 11:05:48 AM PST by mewzilla (Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. John Adams)
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To: amdgmary
Speaking of Kennedy...

Don't let 'em fool ya, folks. They weren't holding up the board to give The Swimmer a visual aid. They were using it as a defense against the smell coming from the Dim side of the table.


1,883 posted on 01/12/2006 11:06:21 AM PST by Wolfstar ("We must...all hang together or...we shall all hang separately." Benjamin Franklin)
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To: Howlin
Did you email that to Hugh Hewitt. He has Chemerinsky on regularly. Would love to hear him ask him point blank to defend that hypocrisy on the filibuster
1,884 posted on 01/12/2006 11:07:01 AM PST by MNJohnnie (Resistance is futile. We are the Freepers. You will be assimilated)
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To: shield

Is that a picture of you in your profile?


1,885 posted on 01/12/2006 11:07:26 AM PST by johnny7 (“Iuventus stultorum magister”)
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To: mewzilla

LOL! someone may take that for the other kind LOL!


1,886 posted on 01/12/2006 11:07:48 AM PST by saveliberty (Proud to be Head Snowflake, Bushbot and a new member of Sam's Club)
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To: All
Good article summarizing DEM v. GOP, and Alito as the fulcrum in confirmation battles. The article includes a good summary of the meaning and use fo the phrase "unitary executive." A quick read that will put many of the questions of the past few days in a more clear light.

January 12, 2006
Judge Alito's Confirmation Battle, The Unitary Executive ...
By Ronald A. Cass

This phrase has been used repeatedly in the hearings, as Judge Alito has been queried about why he is a fan of the concept and why he gave remarks praising it to the Federalist Society. (Senate Democrats don't know much about the Society, but they regard it as a cross between the Freemasons and a satanic cult, only with better suits.) The typical exchange asks something like this: "Can you tell us, Judge Alito, why you favor a theory of government that removes any constraint on executive power and makes the President the unchecked, unreviewable authority over everything the government does?" Frequently, the questioner asks Judge Alito to defend the theory of "the unitary form of government." ...

Of course, the theory of the "unitary executive," as Judge Alito has explained ad nauseam, has nothing at all to say about the scope of executive power. It has nothing to say about how that power is granted or how it is checked.

Instead, the theory says that "the executive power shall be vested in the President of the United States." Those are, in fact, the words of the first clause in Article II of the Constitution. This means that the President is in charge of the executive branch and that executive power is to be given to people who work for - and are in important ways controlled by - the President. This means that Congress can't pass a law, even with the President's approval, giving executive authority to people who work for Congress or for the courts.

Taken seriously, the theory of the unitary executive would require some reorganization of the "independent" agencies, especially the Federal Election Commission and the US International Trade Commission, the two agencies most insulated from presidential control and most subject to legislative control. Taken seriously, the theory would have invalidated the Independent Counsel law, upheld in Morrison v. Olson over the prescient dissent of Justice Scalia. Democrats drafted the law in the 1970s and vigorously supported the law when it was challenged in the 1980s, but by the late 1990s they were reading verbatim from Scalia's critique. Go figure.

Theory and Practice: Re-trenching

Of course, this isn't where the story ends. The theory isn't the end of the story because, although Judge Alito finds it interesting and in some ways compelling, he doesn't decide cases on theory. He recognizes all of the Supreme Court precedents that pull away from the vision of a unitary executive, and says that he'll start from them, not from the theory, to resolve cases that come before him.

That's pretty much the same answer Judge Alito has given in every area. He understands the theory, but he's going to start with the cases and the Constitution, with what the document says and what other judges have said. It's the standard way judges approach the job.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-1_12_06_RAC.html


1,887 posted on 01/12/2006 11:07:57 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: All
What a lousy hand to draw to...

That's right, boys. Yuck it up as you follow Schumer over that cliff. You only just made arses out of yourselves, but then again, that is your normal state of being. So keep on keeping on.


1,888 posted on 01/12/2006 11:09:01 AM PST by Wolfstar ("We must...all hang together or...we shall all hang separately." Benjamin Franklin)
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To: Wolfstar; All

AP -

Alito Appears Headed for Confirmation (Senators done for now, Witnesses up this afternoon) ^

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1556848/posts


1,889 posted on 01/12/2006 11:10:29 AM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Monthly Donor spoken Here. Go to ... https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: CharlesWayneCT
The constitution specifically requires that ALL executive branch functions be directly controlled by the president.

Would that mean... if Congress desires to "get" he President, Congress should "get" him through their own activities?

1,890 posted on 01/12/2006 11:11:40 AM PST by syriacus (Chuck Schumer is outclassed intellectually by Bush's judicial nominees.)
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To: Cboldt

I'm just kidding you.

That is exactly what I've done the last few days (unless the fireworks flew.)


1,891 posted on 01/12/2006 11:13:23 AM PST by pollyannaish
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To: Wolfstar
That's right, boys. Yuck it up as you follow Schumer over that cliff.

They are good little "lemm-o-crats"

1,892 posted on 01/12/2006 11:13:38 AM PST by syriacus (Chuck Schumer is outclassed intellectually by Bush's judicial nominees.)
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To: Cboldt
A quick read that will put many of the questions of the past few days in a more clear light.

Thanks for the useful info.

The only question I need answered at this point is how could the Dim brain trust let The Swimmer question anyone about ethics. The word isn't even in his lexicon.

1,893 posted on 01/12/2006 11:14:30 AM PST by Wolfstar ("We must...all hang together or...we shall all hang separately." Benjamin Franklin)
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To: NormsRevenge

Senator Kennedy wraps up on Alito.

So now it is your statement that you did not star with Jennifer Gardener on Alias as her father and you also did NOTHING to encourage a Gardener abortion so the show could go on?

If you can't be expected to please the public in entertainment Mr. Alito, how can we trust you in areas of law?

1,894 posted on 01/12/2006 11:14:52 AM PST by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: BigSkyFreeper
I saw on C-SPAN yesterday that Harry Reid said he received no money from Abramoff and said it was "a Republican scandal". Despite the fact that Reid ultimately received more than $66,000 in Abramoff-related donations, and made past statements to the effect that he would not return the money.

Make of it what you want, but Reid is desperately in CYA mode, by contradicting himself.

So Reid is saying that he's not going to return money...that he never received? Alll riiiighty thennn....

1,895 posted on 01/12/2006 11:16:42 AM PST by Christian4Bush (Over THREE THOUSAND PEOPLE lost their 'civil liberties' on September 11, 2001.)
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To: jrg

Actually, its from her program on the cooking channel about preparing fish meals. Its called the "Fillet Show".

1,896 posted on 01/12/2006 11:17:00 AM PST by Paradox (What "tax cuts for the rich". They are paying more taxes now than ever!)
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To: American Quilter

Actually, it's worse. Sure, they might see there is a risk of losing independent votes by running a filibuster.

But every democrat will lose in november if their base actually rejects them. They have to take that into account.

So the louder the base is, and the more likely it seems that their base will hold them accountable, the more likely it is that individual senators would vote for a filibuster in the hopes that just doing so would turn the tide (HEADLINE: "Democrat Filibuster raises new questions about Alito's Qualifications"), and that in any case the independents would forget it by november, and still vote democrat because of all the other stuff.

Because they KNOW that the base won't forget -- the only question on that side is will the base concede elections to republicans to punish their own wayward democrats.

Now, the recent polls for Senator Lieberman are encouraging on that front, as the left's rejection of him doesn't seem to be reflected in his poll numbers. That might strengthen the resolve of some democrat senators to do what is right, rather than what the far left order them to do.


1,897 posted on 01/12/2006 11:17:24 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: NormsRevenge

Is this the last day of hearings? Oh, wait! What am I thinking. It's Thursday and they all beat feet out of town most Thursdays. (The Swimmer beats feet to the nearest bar.) So the vote should be next week unless the Dims find some way to delay it.


1,898 posted on 01/12/2006 11:18:36 AM PST by Wolfstar ("We must...all hang together or...we shall all hang separately." Benjamin Franklin)
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To: Howlin

Erwin Chemerinskys' only asset is his amazing ability to simultaneously look two people straight in the eye.


1,899 posted on 01/12/2006 11:19:06 AM PST by Chief (Democrats are the 'bait and switch' party)
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To: Chief

LOL!!!!


1,900 posted on 01/12/2006 11:19:53 AM PST by andyland (Go Wolfpack!)
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