Archive: November 06, 2005 - November 12, 2005
Justice Kennedy-Middleman
U.S. News reports: The court's fresh lineup may leave Anthony Kennedy as the man in the middle (11/21/05)...
By Fred Barbash | November 12, 2005; 10:56 PM ET | Email a Comment
Washington Post: Turmoil at DOJ
Civil Rights Focus Shift Roils Staff At Justice...
By Fred Barbash | November 12, 2005; 10:51 PM ET | Email a Comment
NYT Editorial
Editorial: The Democrats and Judge Alito: "The nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court is a defining moment for the country, and for the Democratic Party."...
By Fred Barbash | November 12, 2005; 10:47 PM ET | Email a Comment
Rove Speech Excerpts: "Our Courts are In Crisis"
Here, by popular demand, are some excerpts from Karl Rove's speech Thursday to the Federalist Society via Federal News Service: MR. ROVE: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Enough! Thank you. Enough! Sit down, you'll get your dinner quicker. Thank you, David. Thank you very much for the generous introduction. You know, for some, it's the Bavarian Illuminati. For others, it's the Knights Templar. In recent years, it's been the trilateralists; the Bilderbergers, or the neocons. But for Senators Kennedy, Durbin, Schumer and Leahy, the most successful conspiracy in the history of the mankind is one of the most visible and open, as shown by your willingness to put yourselves on display here tonight. (Laughter, applause.)...
By Fred Barbash | November 12, 2005; 4:25 PM ET | Comments (5)
Abortion
AP Reports: Abortion Major High Court Nominee Issue: (Via The Washington Post.)...
By Fred Barbash | November 12, 2005; 1:55 PM ET | Email a Comment
Yalies and Alito
The New York Times reports: At Yale, Frowns for Alumni Nominated to Court...
By Fred Barbash | November 12, 2005; 1:04 PM ET | Email a Comment
Sen. Specter in WSJ Op-Ed
'Guarantees Are for Used Cars, Not Judicial Nominees': The Wild West was not as wild as today's zealots at either end of the political spectrum. Unlike more civilized conventional wars, no one is willing to "keep your powder dry" or "wait until you see the whites of their eyes." Instead, there is instantaneous opposition without a realistic opportunity to examine the nominee's record.....In evaluating Judge Alito's jurisprudence on this subject, it is significant that he told me he accepts Griswold v. Connecticut, which affirmed the right to privacy as part of the liberty clause. Judge Alito also acknowledged to me the extra precedential weight of Casey and other Supreme Court decisions re-affirming or leaving Roe intact. While he did not adopt the concept of super-precedent or super-duper precedent, he did say there was a "sliding scale" giving extra weight to the Supreme Court decisions following Roe.Subscription...
By Fred Barbash | November 12, 2005; 5:47 AM ET | Email a Comment
Anti-abortion groups wary.
Maura Reynolds of the LA Times reports:The Seattle Times: Jury's still out on endorsing Alito, abortion opponents say...
By Fred Barbash | November 12, 2005; 5:20 AM ET | Email a Comment
Alito as Libertarian
Jonathan D. Glater and Adam Liptak write in the New York Times:Bush's Conservative Judge Harbors Libertarian Streak...
By Fred Barbash | November 12, 2005; 5:12 AM ET | Email a Comment
Justices and Friction On Foreign Policy
Charles Lane writes in the Washington Post:The High Court Looks Abroad:...
By Fred Barbash | November 12, 2005; 5:08 AM ET | Email a Comment
Thomas: Abortion Holds Judiciary Hostage
AP reports: Justice Clarence Thomas: "The whole process of trying to ferret out the personal agenda through the confirmation process isn't an endeavor that I think is worth the price we are paying," said Thomas. "I think the only thing it does is rats out the agenda of the people asking the questions."...
By Fred Barbash | November 11, 2005; 9:05 PM ET | Comments (1)
Transcripts of All Recent Nomination Hearings
Transcripts of the hearings for Justices O'Connor through Roberts are available here: United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Supreme Court Nomination Hearings (1975 - forward)...
By Fred Barbash | November 11, 2005; 5:19 PM ET | Email a Comment
Kohl Meets Alito
The AP Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito told Sen. Herb Kohl that he acknowledged the importance of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established abortion rights, Kohl said after their meeting Thursday....
By Fred Barbash | November 11, 2005; 4:52 PM ET | Email a Comment
Nathan Lewin: Judge Alito and the Shomeret Shabbat
JewishPress.com What kind of a man is Samuel A. Alito Jr., President Bush’s latest selection to fill the seat of retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor?...
By Fred Barbash | November 11, 2005; 4:45 PM ET | Email a Comment
Jeffrey Rosen in TNR
Decoding Samuel Alito (Registration Required) For those who believe in bipartisan judicial restraint, Samuel Alito Jr. poses a dilemma. On the one hand, his vote to strike down a federal ban on machine gun possession in 1996 suggests that he might be a conservative activist who is determined to resurrect limits on congressional authority that have been dormant since the New Deal. On the other hand, many of his other opinions support the judgment of those who know him: that he is a fair-minded conservative incrementalist, closer to Chief Justice John Roberts than to a radical conservative like Justice Clarence Thomas...." ...
By Fred Barbash | November 11, 2005; 4:21 PM ET | Email a Comment
Conservatives in Iowa Urge Alito Support
From the AP...
By Fred Barbash | November 11, 2005; 4:13 PM ET | Email a Comment
Fox News Poll
FOXNews.com, FNC Poll - Alito Seen as Qualified: "...
By Fred Barbash | November 11, 2005; 1:14 PM ET | Email a Comment
NPR : A Survey Course on Alito Legal Views
Nina Totenberg at NPR offers, A Survey Course on Alito Legal Views...
By Fred Barbash | November 11, 2005; 10:44 AM ET | Email a Comment
Bazelon on Alito at Slate
"Alito has freely substituted his own dismissive reading of the evidence for a jury's verdict." No Smoke, No Fire - Alito, the hard-ass. By Emily Bazelon...
By Fred Barbash | November 11, 2005; 8:04 AM ET | Email a Comment
Doubts on Abortion
LA Times: Some Abortion Foes Unsure About Alito...
By Fred Barbash | November 11, 2005; 7:28 AM ET | Email a Comment
Federalist Society
The New York Times, Despite Recent Gains, Conservative Group Is Wary on Direction of Court - New York Times: "...
By Fred Barbash | November 11, 2005; 4:02 AM ET | Email a Comment
Liberal Groups Mobilize
From the Legal Times, With Alito Nomination, Interest Groups Brace for the Battle Royal: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance: 'This is it,' People For the American Way's Ralph Neas wrote last week to hundreds of thousands of potential opponents of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito Jr., 'the moment the Radical Right has been dreaming about for years.'...
By Fred Barbash | November 11, 2005; 3:42 AM ET | Email a Comment
Alito Defends His Actions In Two Appeals Court Cases
This is the first morning where the overall coverage of Alito is negative. The Washington Post, Alito Defends His Actions In Two Appeals Court Cases The New York Times, Alito Responds to Criticism Over Two Cases Newsday, Alito Says Investment Cases Did Not Violate Ethics Rules - Los Angeles Times: The Boston Globe, Alito denies conflict in '02 Vanguard case...
By Fred Barbash | November 11, 2005; 3:36 AM ET | Comments (2)
Alito Denies Conflict of Interest
Washington Post staff writer Charles Babington reports that Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the head of the Judiciary Committee, and Samuel Alito exchanged letters today and the Supreme Court nominee said he did nothing wrong in ruling on cases that involved financial companies in which he had investments. Specter's letter said that "[b]ased on the judgments of two experts in judicial ethics which have been submitted to the Judiciary Committee, it is my conclusion that there has been no impropriety on your part." But he urged Alito to quickly comment on the matter because in past Supreme Court nominations, "we have seen issues which may be minor, unmeritorious, or even non-existent, proliferate into major controversies." Here's Babington's story on the issue from the Thursday paper. Alito wrote back in a letter that he may have been "unduly restrictive in my 1990 questionnaire" for a lower court when he promised not to...
By Lexie Verdon | November 10, 2005; 6:42 PM ET | Comments (5)
U. Chicago's Richard Epstein: Don't Flyspeck Sam Alito
The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog: Don't Flyspeck Sam Alito: "In Alito's case, their [opponents'] meager harvest has three points. He is soft on separation of church and state; he is a bit too pro-state on the federalism issue; and he supported against constitutional challenge a requirement that women in some cases notify their husbands before they have an abortion. That list looks to me to be sufficiently thin that it really does not need much of a reply. But that said here is a short answer on each of these points...
By Fred Barbash | November 10, 2005; 5:19 PM ET | Comments (2)
More on Gonzales' "Foreign Law" Speech from:
Opinio Juris: " Gonzales Criticizes Reliance on Foreign Authority Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez gave an important speech at the University of Chicago Law School yesterday strongly criticizing the recent trend of reliance on foreign and international authority. Gonzales made several key points:...
By Fred Barbash | November 10, 2005; 5:12 PM ET | Email a Comment
Gillispie to Bloggers
For more on the Gillespie call to bloggers: Suitably Flip: Conference Call With Alito Advisor Ed Gillespie...
By Fred Barbash | November 10, 2005; 5:09 PM ET | Email a Comment
ProfBainbridge.com: Liveblogging the Ed Gillespie Call
For some notes from Prof. Bainbridge on the the Republican chairman's chat with bloggers see: ProfessorBainbridge.com: Liveblogging the Ed Gillespie Call:...
By Fred Barbash | November 10, 2005; 5:05 PM ET | Email a Comment
Alito demonstrated insensitivity as a judge, Lautenberg says
Newsday.com: Alito demonstrated insensitivity as a judge, Lautenberg says...
By Fred Barbash | November 10, 2005; 4:59 PM ET | Email a Comment
Nan Aron: "There is no one worse...."
AP: Liberal groups are planning a new effort against Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito after seeing some Senate Democrats virtually dismiss the possibility of a filibuster and praise the New Jersey jurist in the two weeks since his nomination. "Next week, the press, the American people will begin to hear a very different story about his record, his experiences, some of the judgments he's made," said Nan Aron, president of the liberal Alliance for Justice, an organization steering a coalition of groups on the left. Aron said nominees normally get a honeymoon period from the Senate during which they garner praise, but she expects a turnaround after a "major educational process" next week. Liberals had been afraid that if one of Bush's Supreme Court nominations failed, she said, the White House would nominate someone like U.S. Appeals Court Judges Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen or William Pryor or Hispanic lawyer...
By Fred Barbash | November 10, 2005; 3:23 PM ET | Comments (5)
Specter Asks for Alito Response on Vanguard
The AP reports: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., called Thursday for Alito to respond quickly to the Vanguard matter to keep it from becoming a major issue -- even though Specter told Alito he thinks "there has been no impropriety on your part." "In Supreme Court nominations which are so important for so many reasons, we have seen issues which may be minor, unmeritorious and even nonexistent, proliferate into major controversies by those who are opposed for other reasons," Specter said in a letter to Alito. See previous post on this....
By Fred Barbash | November 10, 2005; 3:04 PM ET | Email a Comment
Feingold On Alito
Reported by WXOW TV in LaCrosse: Feingold Meets with Alito : " Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold met with Samuel Alito and says he was impressed with the Supreme Court nominee's candor. Feingold says the two had a wide-ranging talk for an hour and was particularly impressed with their talk on Fourth Amendment safeguards against unreasonable searches. Also see this account in the Janesville Gazette....
By Fred Barbash | November 10, 2005; 11:57 AM ET | Email a Comment
The American Spectator: Alito's "Libertarian Dimension"
The American Spectator: By Ilya Somin "Most debate about Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito has focused on his propensity to vote to overrule Roe v. Wade and the similarity between him and conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. "But despite the superficial parallels.... between the two conservative, Italian-American Catholic jurists, it is important to recognize that Alito has a substantial libertarian dimension to his jurisprudence as well as a conservative one."...
By Fred Barbash | November 10, 2005; 9:06 AM ET | Comments (2)
Saletan on Casey in Slate
Isn't That Spousal - Alito, abortion, sexism, and the polls. By William Saletan: " Who represents the mainstream on this issue? Alito or O'Connor? Alito's defenders have good evidence on their side"...
By Fred Barbash | November 10, 2005; 8:44 AM ET | Email a Comment
Alito and Vanguard
See the National Review Online for Ronald Rotuda's opinion, sent at the request of Sen. Specter, on the the Vanguard case and Alito's non-recusal. See also this post Legal Ethics Forum: Judge Alito and the Vanguard Recusal Question by David McGowan of the University of San Diego Law School, who also argues that Alito did not need to recuse in the Vanguard case....
By Fred Barbash | November 10, 2005; 6:51 AM ET | Comments (1)
From Slate's Dahlia Lithwick: U.S. v Georgia, Disabilities Act
Ramps in the Big House - The Supreme Court contemplates disability rights for prisoners.: " It's far too early to call your bookies on this one. But if today's oral argument was a canary in the coal mine of the big 'states rights' revolution under Chief Justice John Roberts, I'd guess that the so-called 'dignity' of states might finally be less compelling to the justices than the 'dignity' of a real-live human being forced to sit for hours in his own excrement. At issue in United States v. Georgia and Goodman v. Georgia is whether Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act "...
By Fred Barbash | November 10, 2005; 6:22 AM ET | Email a Comment
New York Times Op-ed
Balancing Act - New York Times By JOHN F. MANNING Some Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have argued that Judge Samuel A. Alito's nomination to succeed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor merits more thorough scrutiny, if not outright rejection, because it would disturb the 'balance of the court.' Whether Judge Alito will in fact shift the Supreme Court to the right on any matter is unknowable. But whatever kind of justice he may turn out to be, the premise of some ideal and inviolate balance of the court cannot be grounded in principle or put into practice. See a rebuttal by Jack Balkin at Balkinzation....
By Fred Barbash | November 10, 2005; 6:17 AM ET | Email a Comment
Designee Woos Senators on Both Sides of Abortion Debate
The New York Times reports: Designee Woos Senators on Both Sides of Abortion Debate: "Dancing a fine line, Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. spent Tuesday courting both opponents and supporters of abortion rights with careful remarks about legal precedent." (Via NYT > Washington.)...
By Fred Barbash | November 10, 2005; 6:11 AM ET | Email a Comment
Roe v. Wade Attorney Leaning Against Alito
Roe v. Wade Attorney Leaning Against Alito: "COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The attorney who won the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established abortion rights says she will likely oppose Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court, but is still studying his writings and opinions before taking a formal position." (Via washingtonpost.com - Courts, Judiciary.)...
By Fred Barbash | November 10, 2005; 6:09 AM ET | Email a Comment
Democrats Query Nominee On Ethics
The Washington Post reports: Democrats Query Nominee On Ethics: By Charles Babington, Senate Democrats are pressing Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. about his rulings on cases that involved financial companies in which he had investments, a sign that ethics questions may play a role in his confirmation hearing....
By Fred Barbash | November 10, 2005; 6:08 AM ET | Email a Comment
Alito reviewed '95 case involving sister's firm - The Boston Globe
Alito reviewed '95 case involving sister's firm - The Boston Globe: " Michael Kranish reports: Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., who said in 1990 that he would disqualify himself from cases involving his sister's law firm, was a member of an appeals court that reviewed a 1995 case in which his sister's firm represented one of the parties, according to court records. It is at least the third instance in which there is no indication the Supreme Court nominee recused himself from the kind of case he had promised a Senate committee he would avoid as a federal judge. The news of the case, which had not been reported previously, comes one day after two Democratic senators said they wanted more answers to conflict-of-interests questions about Alito's involvement in cases regar"...
By Fred Barbash | November 10, 2005; 4:33 AM ET | Email a Comment
Who Said the Thesis Was Dull?
Alito favored equal treatment on adultery: "Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito favored equal treatment for men and women in adultery cases in his analysis of the Italian court system in his senior thesis at Princeton University." (Via Boston.com / News.)...
By Fred Barbash | November 9, 2005; 7:15 PM ET | Email a Comment
Dems Seek Alito Vanguard Info
DAVID ESPO of AP reports: Senate Democrats issued their first coordinated challenge to Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, seeking extensive records about his participation in a 2002 appeals case despite a six-figure investment with one of the defendants. In a letter to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the eight Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Alito had promised the panel in 1990 he would "disqualify myself from any cases involving the Vanguard companies."...
By Fred Barbash | November 9, 2005; 7:11 PM ET | Email a Comment
AG Gonzales worried about SCOTUS "reliance on foreign law."
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, in prepared remarks, takes on Justices Breyer and Kennedy, among others, for "reliance on foreign law" in recent opinions. He says "the use of foreign law poses a direct threat to legitimacy, including to the legitimacy of the Court itself." He cites, among other cases, Roper v. Simmons (barring capital punishment for those under 18 at the time of the crime.) Following are excerpts of of prepared remarks by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales at the University of Chicago Law School: Last week, when the President announced his nomination of Judge Sam Alito to be Associate Justice on the Supreme Court, Judge Alito said that he holds the Supreme Court "in reverence"; it represents to him "our dedication as a free and open society to liberty and opportunity, and, as it says above the entrance to the Supreme Court, 'equal justice under law."' Judge Alito's...
By Fred Barbash | November 9, 2005; 5:08 PM ET | Email a Comment
Prof. Bainbridge: Missing Miers
Stephen Bainbridge at Professor Bainbridge, bored with the smooth-sailing Alito nomination, longs for the "endless entertainment value' of Miers. "There was something new every day."...
By Fred Barbash | November 9, 2005; 4:56 PM ET | Comments (1)
Frenzies on both sides of the abortion debate.
Judie Brown of the American Life League writes at ProLifeBlogs of what she describes as a frenzy among pro-lifers worried that Alito is pro-abortion. Harvey A. Silverglate, in Reason, thinks there's a bit of a frenzy among liberals, especially in light of what he thinks are signs of sensitivity to civil liberties by Alito.:...
By Fred Barbash | November 9, 2005; 4:39 PM ET | Comments (2)
Frist Warning on Filbuster
The Chicago Tribune has an op-ed by Majority Leader Sen. Bill Frist, curious considering the absence of a serious filibuster threat, warning that if "members of the Democratic minority persist in blocking a vote on Alito's nomination" the Senate will have to deploy the "constitutional option."I'm willing to consider any reasonable proposal on debate: If the Democrats believe that each senator should have a full hour to speak uninterrupted about Alito's nomination, I am open to the idea. But I will not negotiate about the Senate's constitutional duty to vote on the president's judicial nominees..... If members of the Democratic minority persist in blocking a vote on Alito's nomination, the Senate will have no choice but to do what. Byrd did: exercise its constitutional rights and bring Alito's nomination up for a vote. I hope that the Senate will conduct Alito's confirmation process with customary courtesy and civility. The process...
By Fred Barbash | November 9, 2005; 4:31 PM ET | Comments (2)
Sen. Conrad Unlikely to Support Filibuster
The Grand Forks Herald reports Sen. Kent Conrad D-N.D.) saying that "absent some new information" it is unlikely he would support a filibuster on the Alito nomination. After meeting with Alito he said: "I found him to be very impressive, I found him to be a very thoughtful person," Conrad said. "He got off to a very good start with me." Alito definitely leans to the right, but that does not disqualify him from the job, Conrad said. "Absolutely he is conservative, but I believe in the broad mainstream of American jurisprudence," Conrad said. "It is healthy to have different views on the court."...
By Fred Barbash | November 9, 2005; 1:22 PM ET | Comments (2)
Alito's Senior Thesis: A+ from Prof. Alford
From Opinio Juris: Alito's Senior Thesis on the Italian Constitutional Court: " ....It is quite a remarkable piece of work. It is no small feat for a twenty-two-year-old to have sufficient facility in another language and sufficient analytical prowess before law school to undertake such a constitutional analysis. His thesis advisor said he has only kept a half-dozen theses in all his years, and Alito's was one of them. 'Sam just had to start from scratch... I've used it over the years in my work.' Alito is so detailed that he examin" (Via .)...
By Fred Barbash | November 9, 2005; 9:14 AM ET | Comments (1)
Alito Ad Campaign After The New Year
Alito ad storm waiting to strike after the holidays (USA Today): "The media battle among conservative and liberal interest groups over Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court has begun, but it will be a quiet rumble until January."...
By Fred Barbash | November 9, 2005; 6:50 AM ET | Email a Comment
Alito's Most Mentioned Cases
Political Arithmetik, the blog of Charles Franklin,a political scientist/statistician, offers a study of cases most mentioned in press coverage of the Alito nomination. Roe and Casey lead by a huge margin of course, but Rybar and Bray are gamely competing for third....
By Fred Barbash | November 9, 2005; 6:28 AM ET | Email a Comment
Catholics and Evangelicals
Franklin Foer, writing in the New Republic, sees the possible new Catholic Majority on the court as part of a wider Conservative alliance. "This unprecedented Catholic majority, assuming Alito's confirmation, might seem a historical accident. When George H.W. Bush appointed Thomas, it's a good bet that his Catholicism wasn't foremost on the president's mind. But the emergence of the Court's Catholic bloc reflects the reality of social conservatism: Evangelicals supply the political energy, Catholics the intellectual heft."...
By Fred Barbash | November 9, 2005; 3:52 AM ET | Comments (8)
Alito: Swimmingly in the Senate
Ten days into the Alito nomination, there are no blunders, gaffes or revelations. A brief flurry yesterday, sparked by a report in the Daily Princetonian about Alito's alleged views on Roe, fizzled quickly when the paper corrected itself. Alito's "missing senior thesis" resurfaced, and how fortunate for him that he chose not to write about anything remotely controversial, but rather tackled the worthy subject of the court system in Italy. The paper was so good that his professor decided to hold onto it all these years. As the Princetonian put it, "Alito's thesis offers few clues on his judicial philosophy," though undoubtedly someone will take up the challenge and try to come up with some. Dale Russakoff, in the Washington Post, has a fascinating piece on how Alito managed to teach a Seton Hall Law School course on "Terrorism and Civil Liberties," in the wake of 9/11, without providing even...
By Fred Barbash | November 9, 2005; 2:44 AM ET | Email a Comment
Leahy Comments on Alito, Miers
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt) appared on Wolf Blitzer's "Situation Room" on CNN. He was non-committal on the filibuster question. BLITZER: You're the ranking Democrat of the Senate Judiciary Committee. You'll be holding confirmation hearings in January for Judge Samuel Alito. Joe Biden the other day, on Sunday, suggested a filibuster probably would not be appropriate right now. Do you agree with him? LEAHY: I agree we ought to have the hearing, make up the minds after the hearing. I have done this with both Democratic and Republican nominees. I've always said I'll make up my mind once the hearing is over. I think that's what we should do....
By Fred Barbash | November 8, 2005; 6:52 PM ET | Comments (2)
ACS Alito Panel Discussion
On Nov. 3, the American Constitution Society held a panel discussion on the Alito nomination featuring Marcia Greenberger, Ralph Neas, Nancy Zirkin and Bruce Fein. You can read a transcript or listen here....
By Fred Barbash | November 8, 2005; 6:30 PM ET | Email a Comment
Alito and First Amendment
The First Amendment Center features an online symposium on Alito's First Amendment cases. Click here to see it....
By Fred Barbash | November 8, 2005; 6:27 PM ET | Email a Comment
Alito's Senior Thesis: Have a Read
The Princeton University Library has posted a copy of Alito's senior thesis. It's entitled "An Introduction to the Italian Constitutional Court."...
By Fred Barbash | November 8, 2005; 6:08 PM ET | Email a Comment
Lieberman, Alito and Roe
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito said the court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision deserves "great respect" but did not commit to upholding it in the future, senators said Tuesday. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., said Alito told him the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision establishing abortion rights "was precedent on which people, a lot of people, relied, and had been precedent now for decades and therefore deserved great respect." Lieberman called that "encouraging," but also said the federal judge had not assured him that he would not overturn Roe....
By Fred Barbash | November 8, 2005; 12:41 PM ET | Comments (4)
Alito Clerks for Alito
Progress for America announces a news conference of former Alito Clerks: Bipartisan Group of Judge Alito's Former Law Clerks to Hold Press Conference - Alito Clerks to Meet with Senators, Present Endorsement Letter - Date/Time: Wednesday, November 9, 2005 1:00 PM Location: National Press Club Zenger Room - 13th Floor 529 14th Street, NW Washington, DC Participants: C. Frederick Beckner III John Brewer Monica Dolin...
By Fred Barbash | November 8, 2005; 11:57 AM ET | Email a Comment
Document Mini-Dump
DOJ Press Release: The Department of Justice will make available approximately 50 pages of materials relating to Samuel A. Alito, Jr. today, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. EST. These documents consist of White House records from the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush libraries and have been previously made available through the National Archives. The documents will be available for review at: The Department of Justice RFK Building (Room 1211), 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20530 All media must present government-issued photo ID (such as driver's license) as well as valid media credentials. Media interested in attending the event should enter through the Visitor Center at the Constitution Avenue entrance. All press inquiries regarding logistics should be directed to the Office of Public Affairs at 202-514-2007....
By Fred Barbash | November 8, 2005; 11:36 AM ET | Email a Comment
Murphy, Princetonian and Roe
The Dow Jones Wire is now quoting the Princetonian quoting Prof. Murphy quoting Samuel Alito saying that Roe was wrongly decided. As I note in the previous post, Prof. Murphy tells me in an email that he said no such thing about Alito. He did not discuss Roe with Alito, he says. Here's the top of the Dow Jones story: NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The Roe v. Wade decision on abortion rights was wrongly decided, Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito believes, his former college thesis adviser says, a newspaper reported Tuesday. MEANWHILE: The Princetonian has appended this correction to its original story:Correction The original article mistakenly that Walter Murphy said he and Alito agreed that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided. The error was a result of a misinterpretation of an earlier quote. In an interview Tuesday morning, Murphy said: "Sam and I have never talked about Roe v....
By Fred Barbash | November 8, 2005; 11:23 AM ET | Email a Comment
Princetonian article
According to The Daily Princetonian A) Alito's senior thesis, previously missing, has been unearthed and B) Alito friend Professor Walter Murphy says the two of them agreed that Roe was wrongly decided. The article does not provide a supporting quote from Murphy on Roe. I emailed Professor Murphy and got this response: I haven't seen the story in The Prince, but I did NOT say that Sam & I agreed that Roe was wrongly decided. I think it was, but he and I have never discussed it; thus I can't report his views. He graduated from PU a year before Roe. The point I was trying to make was that, even if Sam thought that Roe was wrong, he would not necessarily vote to overturn it. Thanks to blogger Howard Bashman at How Appealing for the link....
By Fred Barbash | November 8, 2005; 8:12 AM ET | Comments (3)
Althouse takes on Tribe on FMLA
Ann Althouse does a double-take as she reads Laurence Tribe's depiction of Alito's opinion on the Family Medical Leave Act....
By Fred Barbash | November 8, 2005; 3:37 AM ET | Comments (3)
Specter: "A high wire act...without a net."
Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) once again confronts the abortion controversy. "You really wonder with all the tremendously important issues that the court faces... that the woman's right to choose dominates the scene, but it does," Specter continued. "That's the principal battle line which is present." Steve Goldstein writes in the Philadelphia Inquirer....
By Fred Barbash | November 8, 2005; 3:21 AM ET | Comments (1)
Alito, AIDS and foster care.
Gay rights advocates take another look at Alito in light of a supportive 3rd Circuit opinion he joined on the subject of AIDS, foster care and the disability act, reports the New York Blade....
By Fred Barbash | November 8, 2005; 3:17 AM ET | Email a Comment
Human Events: "Supreme Bias" re Allito
Rich Noyes in Human Events says the media have unfairly characterized Alito as right wing extremist. Thanks to Committee for Justice for the link. Also via Committee for Justice, I also like "Rules for Demonizing a Nominee" by David Nieporent at oobleck.com. He applies it to liberals. Historically, it goes both ways....
By Fred Barbash | November 7, 2005; 7:34 PM ET | Comments (1)
Sen. Obama: A wasted opportunity.
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) says he will reserve judgement on Alito but is concerned that the President "has wasted an opportunity to appoint a consensus nominee...." according to the Afro Newspapers....
By Fred Barbash | November 7, 2005; 6:08 PM ET | Comments (1)
"Old Boys' Club"
Here's a release from the Feminist Majority on opposition to Alito, quoting National Council of Women's Organizations chair Susan Scanlan as saying "The President has no excuse for nominating yet another member of his Old Boys' Club...."...
By Fred Barbash | November 7, 2005; 5:09 PM ET | Email a Comment
Coburn: Alito "legislating" from the bench.
In case you missed Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) on Meet the Press, suggesting that Alito is guilty of "legislating from the bench," here is the relevant exchange: MR. RUSSERT: Let me ask you about another decision, and the Brady Center for Prevent Gun Violence put this out last night. This is from Jim Brady, White House press secretary for Ronald Reagan who was shot in an assassination attempt -- "Judge Samuel Alito's dissent in U.S. versus Rybar argued that federal restrictions on machine gun possession amounted to an unconstitutional exercise of a congressional power under the commerce clause. His opinion attempted to erect arbitrary hurdles to congressional efforts to reduce the availability of machine guns to the criminal element." These aren't handguns or hunting rifles, these are machine guns. Do you believe that Congress has the right to restrict the sale and transfer of machine guns? Or do you think...
By Fred Barbash | November 7, 2005; 9:23 AM ET | Comments (28)
Tribe on Alito
Harvard Prof. Laurence H. Tribe has this op-ed in the Boston Globe, questioning Alito's views on women. A counterpoint on the same page comes from Cathy Young, who questions "the effort to paint" Alito "as an ogre who would plunge us back into the Dark Ages...."...
By Fred Barbash | November 7, 2005; 9:05 AM ET | Comments (4)
Alito and abortion.
The Washington Post today carries this editorial questioning conventional assumptions about Alito and abortion. (I am republishing it here rather than linking because of technical problems.) LIBERALS OPPOSED to the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court and conservatives ecstatic over it seem to agree that abortion is one area in which the judge will, if confirmed, shift the court substantially to the right. Though he has not publicly pronounced his views of Roe v. Wade , both sides seem to regard his record on abortion as clear enough to assume him a vote to overturn abortion rights. But Judge Alito's record on abortion is more complicated than the caricatures would suggest. His opinions imply a discomfort with legal abortion and suggest that he may be more willing than Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to uphold restrictions on abortion. But his writings also reflect an effort to...
By Fred Barbash | November 7, 2005; 6:11 AM ET | Comments (6)
Biden: Up-or-down vote likely.
Hope Yen of AP reports: A Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday he believes Samuel Alito will get an up-or-down vote on his Supreme Court bid. "We should commit," said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., minimizing prospects of a Senate filibuster that would prevent final action on President Bush's choice to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. "I think the probability is that will happen," Biden said on ABC's "This Week."...
By Fred Barbash | November 6, 2005; 11:32 AM ET | Comments (2)
