Posted on 01/15/2006 3:41:36 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. is poised to join a tradition of pragmatic justices who have moved the Supreme Court to the right in measured steps.
Eighteen hours of questions over four days showed President Bush's nominee to be a judge respectful of legal precedent but hardly starry-eyed. Judge Alito also displayed a strong inclination toward executive authority, a trait not surprising for a lifetime government employee and former Reagan Justice Department lawyer.
By the design of Bush administration officials and despite Democratic efforts to smoke him out, almost nothing was learned in Senate confirmation hearings about Judge Alito's views on transcendent issues likely to come before the court, such as abortion.
Instead, legal experts say, the hearings may have provided more understanding of Judge Alito's influence on the court's changing dynamics when he replaces retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the decisive vote on abortion, affirmative action and the death penalty.
For example, while Judge Alito will fit comfortably in the conservative camp of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, legal experts see him as being closer to Justice Scalia than Justice Thomas in his incremental approach to overturning what the court has done before.
"Alito's not going to be a radical," said Christopher Wolfe, a political science professor at Marquette University.
Mr. Bush, in his weekly radio address, said Judge Alito was "a man of character and intelligence" whose long legal career shows he is highly qualified for the court.
The president also called for a prompt Senate vote.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
He's warming up.
who needs to expect when we have PROOF that he leans to the right
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1558659/posts
We'll see.
The only radicals I know are left wing nuts. Take a look at that Vermont judge....60 days for raping a 4 year old for years!! And the state wants treatment for HIM!!!! President Bush is a conservative, it is his right to nominate whoever he pleases.
Two comments: He will likely move them more towards literacy than conservatism; and it would be surprising if he does not substantially improve the quality of written decisions - O'Connor was horribly convoluted and vague where she didn't need to be.
NOOOOOOOOOOO ... SAY IT AIN'T SO !!!
1 a : exceeding usual limits : SURPASSING b : extending or lying beyond the limits of ordinary experience c in Kantian philosophy : being beyond the limits of all possible experience and knowledge 2 : being beyond comprehension 3 : transcending the universe or material existence
So abortion is beyond comprehension according to The Washington Times? Wow, what an admission.
Ya reckon?
I'm hopin'!
One would certainly hope so, but one never knows. That is what makes life intersting.
Advice to our liberal friends:
Invite a strict constructionist to lunch. Giving up your obsession with the ACLU will give you new confidence (and new brain cells).
Actually, the court won't be moved to the right overwhelmingly. Too many conservatives think that Sandra Day O'Conner was a clone of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. O'Conner wasn't the worst of them. She did oppose government takeover of private property, for example.
It's the next vacancy that will really decide the future of the Court. Let's hope it happens while Bush is still in office and the GOP still controls the Senate.
LOL! Love it!
Nah....I think he'll move them more to the CONSTITUTION....which is WHERE they SHOULD BE!!! sheesh.
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