I'm not so concerned about where he stands, I trust him with judicial power. The problem I had, in general, is that he came off as not having given the subject deep thought.
To be fair, I missed the substance of his answers, but noted the "quiet" following Graham's rapid fire assertions and questions.
I wonder where he stands on the declaration of war. Is the president sitting on a time bomb.
I think that issue is more between Congress and the President than between the President and the Courts. Our government has three parts that operate togather (in some ways), and against each other (in other ways). That's not an unhealthy arrangement, and is something that makes our system so different, if not responsive.
And, why does no one mention that we have enemies in America and there is always the chance that those enemies have progressed into our government?
It's a delicate subject - but for waht it's worth, most of the enmies penetrate administration organs such as CIA, FBI, and military.
But as for the Alito confirmation, as much as Graham's questioning was uncomforamtble for me to watch, I don't hisnk it has any impact on the confirmation. I will downgrade my previous "A- /85 or better" on Alito's performance to a "B+ / 80 or better" - he's doing GREAT, IMO, and he will meke a fine replacement for SDO.
In my opinion, he was carefully avoiding any unintentional traps that could come back to hurt him later.
At least, that is how I read it.
I thought that Alito was being thoughtful, which is what judges should do. And BTW, the poor man is probably exhausted
I hope you are correct. That exchange was the real first question I had - he just looked squirmish. Of course, the slippery slope was possibly in play and maybe that was why.