Posted on 01/19/2006 1:47:52 PM PST by The_Victor
WASHINGTON - Two Democrats who supported Chief Justice John Roberts said Thursday they would oppose Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito in next week's Senate vote.
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The conservative judge is expected to be confirmed, but with fewer votes than the 78 Roberts got in September.
Democratic Sens. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Ken Salazar of Colorado both questioned whether Alito would be independent of President Bush and the executive branch in his future rulings.
"At a time when the president is seizing unprecedented power, the Supreme Court needs to act as a check and to provide balance," Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a speech at Georgetown University's law school. "Based on the hearing and his record, I have no confidence that Judge Alito would provide that check and balance."
Added Salazar in a statement: "Judge Alito would place too much power in the hands of the president of the United States, at the cost of the protective system of checks and balances built into our Constitution.
The Judiciary Committee, which has 10 Republicans and eight Democrats — is expected to approve Alito's nomination Tuesday in a party-line vote. The full Senate is expected to debate and vote on the nomination that same week, with its Republican majority confirming the federal appeals judge.
Leahy, Salazar and Max Baucus of Montana — who announced his opposition to Alito on Wednesday — were three of the 22 Democrats who voted for Roberts' confirmation as the replacement for the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, a conservative.
Alito is not expected to get that much support from the Senate's 44-member Democratic caucus. He was picked by Bush as the replacement for retiring moderate Sandra Day O'Connor, who was the swing vote on contentious issues such as abortion and affirmative action during her career on the court.
Several other Democrats are opposing Alito, including Tom Harkin of Iowa, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland.
Sen. Ben Nelson (news, bio, voting record) of Nebraska is the only Democrat to announce that he will vote for Alito's confirmation next week. He also voted for Roberts' confirmation.
None of the Senate's 55 Republicans have announced opposition to Alito. Most _if not all — of them are expected to vote for his confirmation. They all voted for Roberts.
Independent Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont has not announced how he'll vote.
Alito is continuing to visit senators, spending time Thursday with Tom Carper, D-Del., and new Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. Carper and Menendez have not taken positions on Alito's nomination. "I have reservations," Menendez said.
Sens. John Sununu, R-N.H., and John Warner, R-Va., announced their support for Alito after meeting with him Thursday.
"He understands the law and the Constitution extremely well, and I think one of the abilities he showed was to clearly describe how he ruled, why he ruled, and what factors were critical to particular cases," Sununu said. "That's an indication that his service on the court and his view of the Constitution is rooted in principle."
Added Warner: "In my view, Judge Alito's strong record and experience, coupled with his appearance before the Judiciary Committee, eliminates any question of the existence of extraordinary circumstances that would justify denying him confirmation by the Senate."
Gee .. Durbin said the same thing
Could it be they are using this issue of privacy because they are afraid to say the abortion word?
What about Scott's brother in law...Matt Smith?
Lie-hee and Sleaze-azar.
Snowe has already said she would vote for the nuclear option. And one Ohio Senator (Voinovich?) was never in doubt. Plus, Nelson (of NE), Graham, and Brownback are all on board. That leaves Chafee, DeWine and Collins as possibly "No" votes (plus 44 Democrats besides Nelson). The nuclear option would win, 53-47; it only needs 50 votes (plus Cheney's).
Club for Growth is supporting conservative Democrat Congressman Henry Cuellar in the Demcrat primary against ultraliberal former Congressman Ciro Rodriguez, whom Cuellar defeated by less than 100 votes in the 2004 Democrat primary. Cuellar is much preferable to Rodriguez, and the GOP is unlikely to post a challenge in the overwhelmingly Hispanic district (in spite of President Bush receiving 52% in 2004). I think it makes perfect sense for the Club for Growth, which is not a Republican group, but a pro-tax cuts, pro-free trade group, to endorse and assist Cuellar in 2006.
President Bush got 55% in John Salazar's district in 2004. The district is eminently winnable for us. Our 2004 nominee was hurt by some local water issue, but I'm sure primary voters won't make the same mistake again. John Salazar got to Congress largely on his brother's shoulders, so it's only fair that he gets brought down due to his brother's liberal votes.
Has Ben Nelson said that he would vote for the nuclear option?
This certainly raises the man's stature IMHO.
They knew going in they were going to oppose him; now they're just making stuff up to appear "credible".
Yes, but will they filibuster?
Makes one wonder what the conservatives who voted for Salazar are thinking now that their guy is being led around by the nose by an orca.
let's just hope it holds.
Hopefully we can get rid of the other Salazar this year...from the House.
I never trusted the attorney general Salazar. He would/will say anything to get elected.
Then forget it and us in five minutes.
The DemocRATs are going to attempt a filibuster without basing it on anything in Alito's testimony. They can't justify their filibuster because they wasted too much time asking Alito about a group he never belonged to. Time for the nuclear option to put the DemocRATs back in their place.
Salazar is no surprise at all. After campaigning on the stated belief that federal court nominees should have an up or down vote from the full Senate, he almost immediately changed his position once safely in office for six years.
He's no different than a host of other allegedly moderate Democrats; he campaigns as being center-right on social and cultural issues, then reveals himself as a fraud by supporting the cause of leftwing judicial activism. Salazar is not concerned about Alito being a rubber stamp for Bush, but rather is concerned that the Left's decades-long winning streak on the Sup Court in the imposition of their radical social agenda may finally come to a halt.
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