Archive: Confirmation Hearings
Committee Approves Alito for High Court
The vote is 10-8 for Alito along party lines.The Roberts vote in the committee was 13-5. Biden(D)-NoBrownback (R)-YesCoburn (R)-YesCornyn (R)-YesDeWine (R)-YesDurbin (D)-NoFeingold (D)-NoFeinstein (D)-NoGraham (R)-Yes.Grassley (R)-YesHatch (R)-YesKennedy (D)-NoKohl (D)-NoKyl (R)-Yes.Leahy (D)-NoSchumer (D)-NoSessions (R)-YesSpecter (R)-Yes Click here for transcript of today's judiciary committee proceeding. ...
By Fred Barbash | January 24, 2006; 10:19 AM ET | Comments (139)
The Commitee Vote
Biden(D)Brownback (R)Coburn (R)Cornyn (R)DeWine (R)Durbin (D)Feingold (D)Feinstein (D)Graham (R)Grassley (R)Hatch (R)-YesKennedy (D)-NoKohl (D)Kyl (R)Leahy (D)-NoSessions (R)Specter (R)-Yes Kennedy-10:16-No: "The Supreme Court is the guardian of our most cherished rights and freedoms," he said. It is to be an "independent check" on the other branches, Kennedy stated. "Today we have a president who believes torture can be an acceptable practice....a president who claims he has the capacity to spy on Americans on American soil," he said. "We cannot count on Judge Alito to blow the whistle" when the president is "out-of-bounds," Kennedy said. Hatch, 10:05-Yes: Republicans approved Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in deference to President Clinton's right to choose his nominee. Democrats should do the same in the case of Judge Alito. "It seems that some on the left cannot abide a judge" who interprets the constitution strictly. "A judge like this is bound to make us legislators act like,...
By Fred Barbash | January 24, 2006; 09:33 AM ET | Comments (58)
SJC vote on Alito set for 9:30
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to meet starting at 9:30 this morning to vote on the nomination of Samuel A. Alito Jr., to the U.S. Supreme Court. Most observers expect a 10-8 party line vote, with the nomination moving to the Senate floor as early as Wednesday. Return to this site for live coverage of the vote. ...
By Fred Barbash | January 24, 2006; 06:27 AM ET | Comments (3)
Hearings End, Schedule Uncertain
Sen. Specter, the Judiciary Committee chairman, said he planned on having a committee vote on Tuesday with a floor vote on Jan. 20. Sen. Leahy, the committee's ranking Democrat, would like to wait until the following Tuesday. As the committee wrapped up the proceeding, it was uncertain when the committee would vote. "We'll talk about it," Leahy said. It has already been reported that some Democrats would like to hold up the floor vote by at least a week. Sen. Specter then announced that he intended to vote in favor of Judge Alito....
By Fred Barbash | January 13, 2006; 01:19 PM ET | Comments (20)
Jack White, Reginald Turner, Theodore Shaw.
Jack White, an attorney who served as a law clerk for Alito from 2003-2004, said "I am the son of African-American parents born in the South. . . . As I clerked for Judge Alito, I saw a deep sense of duty, diligence and respect." He recognized that "every case was the most important case to the parties and attorneys with something at stake." "I saw in him an abiding loyalty to a fair judicial process," rather than to any personal ideology. "I never witnessed a situation where personal or ideological beliefs" influenced the outcome of any of his cases. "When I left New Jersey, I did not know his personal beliefs" on any of the cases. Reginald Turner, president of the National Bar Association, said the association evaluated Judge Alito and "we cannot support this nomination." A nominee to the highest court must share an "unequivocal commitment" to...
By Fred Barbash | January 13, 2006; 12:26 PM ET | Comments (18)
Witnesses: Kate Pringle, Charles Gonzalez, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Kate Pringle, who clerked for Judge Alito from 1993-94, said, "We are all here because we feel strongly about Judge Alito's talent and his character" and feel he will make a great justice. Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-Tex.), representing the Hispanic Caucus in Congress, said the caucus was disappointed that the president failed to appoint a Hispanic to the court. He said the Hispanic Caucus had a number of concerns about Alito, especially in voting rights cases, racial discrimination in jury selection, constitutional rights of non-citizens, Commerce Clause applications that would reduce government power to enforce civil rights and employment discrimination. "We know that the nominee will be someone of President Bush's choosing," he said, "but that does not mean the nominee should be a mere extension of the executive branch." Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said, "I cannot imagine my childrens' future in an America without privacy rights." Based on...
By Fred Barbash | January 13, 2006; 12:13 PM ET | Comments (4)
Witnesses: Amanda Frost, John Flym,
Amanda Frost, an assistant professor at the American University Washington College of Law, testified on the subject of the recusal process for federal judges and justices, saying that there is "a procedural vacuum" that tends to undermine the integrity of the judicial branch. Whatever one's views on Alito's failure to recuse in the Vanguard case, she said, the process used in determining when to recuse is woefully inadequate. She proposed a series of procedural reforms for recusals. John Flym, a law professor at Northeastern University and an attorney for Shantee Maharaj, the plaintiff in the Vanguard case who filed a complaint about Alito's failure to recuse himself, spoke about that case. He argued that contrary to Alito's statement that he did not have to recuse, the law required recusal when a judge has a financial interest. Moreover, ownership in a mutual fund, contrary...
By Fred Barbash | January 13, 2006; 11:17 AM ET | Comments (7)
Witnesses: Fred Gray, Kate Michelman, Ronald Sullivan
Fred Gray, a legendary civil rights attorney (he defended Rosa Parks in Alabama:), said, "As one who has been in the trenches, I appear today to attest to the importance" of the reapportion cases. He noted that he originated the 1960 landmark case of Gomillion v. Lightfoot, which was the first significant reapportionment case decided by the Warren Court, striking a historic blow against racially based reapportionment and racial vote dilution. Gray said he remained troubled by Alito's views on the Warren Court, which, he said, made it possible to remedy inequities across the nation in the area of voting rights for African Americans. "When I filed Gomillion," he said,"there were no black legislators" in the Southern states. Since then, in part as a result of Warren Court decisions, there have been thousands. "But we still need a strong Supreme Court to enforce these laws." Alito, he said,...
By Fred Barbash | January 13, 2006; 11:12 AM ET | Comments (12)
So far...
The hearing is in brief recess to allow senators to attend a service for New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum. The subject-matter of the hearing has shifted over the past day to the question of presidential authority and seems to be addressed by Democrats as much to President Bush as to the debate over confirmation of Judge Alito. The majority of the questions being directed at professorial witnesses, for example, are on that subject. The focus on Alito's 2000 Federalist Society speech -- "Presidential Oversight and the Administrative State" -- reflects this shift. Republicans on the committee have been relatively silent on the subject, choosing not to engage on presidential powers, perhaps because it's not necessary for purposes of securing Alito's confirmation; perhaps simply because it calls attention to the eavesdropping and torture controversies. ...
By Fred Barbash | January 13, 2006; 10:31 AM ET | Comments (12)
Witnesses: Charles Fried, Laurence Tribe
Charles Fried, a former solicitor general and a law professor at Harvard Law School, for whom Alito worked in the Reagan administration, said that the Reagan administration had a point of view about the law that is not unusual and that Alito, as a Reagan administration lawyer, argued in support of that view. That is what elections are about, said Fried. And part of that view was that the lower courts had gone too far in limiting the ability of law enforcement, too far in implementing affirmative action in the form of quotas and that the Supreme Court, as in the Roe opinion, had gone too far in "making things up." Alito did not, in fact, argue that Roe v. Wade should be overruled. Nor did he argue for the absolute immunity of the attorney general in wiretaps. What he said, Fried stated, was "'I don't question that immunity...
By Fred Barbash | January 13, 2006; 09:48 AM ET | Comments (2)
Witnesses: Kronman, Nolan
Anthony Kronman, professor at Yale Law School and a former classmate of Alito, praised Alito for his "faith in the law," his faith in the "essential fairness" of the legal system. His allegiance, said Kronman, "is to the law itself . . . . He had no political agenda of any kind. I would have described him in law school as a lawyer's lawyer. . . . If you had asked me in law school if he was a Democrat, as I am, I could not have told you," Kronman said. Kronman said he has read a number of Alito's opinions and they show "a judicial temperament entirely consistent with his human temperament," which reflects an acute understanding for the limitations of his own office. "We call these qualities judiciousness," he said, "and they are the special qualities of a judge." "His judicial temperament is rooted...
By Fred Barbash | January 13, 2006; 09:27 AM ET | Comments (3)
Witnesses: Profs. Demleitner, Chemerinsky
The first witness today was Nora Demleitner, a former Alito clerk and Hofstra University law professor. Describing herself as "a left-leaning Democrat" and member of the ACLU, she said Alito's confirmation "will not pose a threat to the rights of women or minorities," as critics have charged. She stressed, as many Alito supporters have, his "practical" or pragmatic case-by-case approach to the law, in contrast to the notion of him having an ideological agenda. Erwin Chemerinsky, a professor at Duke University Law School, then addressed the impact on the Supreme Court of Alito replacing Sandra Day O'Connor, particularly on crucial questions of assertions of executive power. He said he has carefully read Alito's memos, speeches and decisions and "they all point in one direction . . . great deference to federal authority." He cited Alito's support, in the Solicitor General's office, of absolute...
By Fred Barbash | January 13, 2006; 09:18 AM ET | Email a Comment
Hearings Resumed at 9
Additonal witnesses are set to testify pro and con Alito's confirmation....
By Fred Barbash | January 13, 2006; 09:03 AM ET | Email a Comment
Hearing Recessed; More Tomorrow
Sen. Specter recessed the hearing at 6:36 p.m. because he felt it would go too late if continued. It will reconvene tomorrow at 9 a.m. with more witnesses. Good Evening....
By Fred Barbash | January 12, 2006; 06:38 PM ET | Comments (6)
Outside the Hearing Room: Bork on Alito On Bork
Wolf Blitzer interviewed Robert Bork tonight on CNN's Situation Room, in part on the subject of what Alito said about Bork. Here's an excerpt: BLITZER: Here's what Samuel Alito said about you, back in 1988. Let me put it up on the screen. "I think he - referring to you - was one of the most outstanding nominees of this century. He is a man of unequaled ability, understanding of constitutional history, someone who had thought deeply throughout his entire life about constitutional issues and about the Supreme Court and the role it ought to play in American society." He was asked about those remarks on Tuesday. Listen to what he said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SAMUEL ALITO, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: When I made that statement in 1988, I was an appointee in the Reagan administration and Judge Bork...
By Fred Barbash | January 12, 2006; 06:35 PM ET | Comments (17)
Other Witnesses
The committee, somewhat depleted, has begun hearing the first of four panels of witnesses both for and against the Alito nomination. The first panel included: Edna Ball Alexrod, former Chief of the Appeals Division, U.S. Attorney's Office, New Jersey-pro. Michael Gerhardt, University of North Carolina Law School professor of constitutional law-con; Peter Kirsanow of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, pro; Samuel Issacharoff, Professor at the New York University Law School--con; Carter Phillips, appellate lawyer and former colleague of Alito's in the Reagan Administration's Office of Solicitor General--pro; Goodwin Liu, assistant professor of law, University of California-con....
By Fred Barbash | January 12, 2006; 05:40 PM ET | Comments (6)
More Judges
Judge Leonard Garth, also of the 3d Circuit and the judge for whom Alito clerked, testified next. He said he had had some 85 law clerks and that "Sam Alito stands out even among that elite group." Others were former Judge John Gibbons of the 3d Circuit and former 3d Circuit Judge Timothy Lewis. An "awkward moment" occurred when Sen. Leahy took exception to appeals court judges testifying on behalf of a possible Supreme Court justice who is likely to be in a position to review their decisions. Sen. Feingold had earlier raised this with Judge Alito, who declined to respond. Leahy did not pursue the issue other than to mention it, saying he would decline to question them so as to not "create difficulty" for the judges or for Alito....
By Fred Barbash | January 12, 2006; 04:20 PM ET | Email a Comment
Judges in support of Alito
Third Circuit Chief Judge Anthony Scirica testified next, along the same lines as Judge Becker before him. Others praising Alito were Judge Maryanne Trump Berry, also of the Third Circuit (she happens to be the sister of Donald Trump.) "If confirmed, Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr., will serve as a marvelous and distinguished associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States," she said. Next was Third Circuit Senior Status Judge Ruggero Aldisert (who said he swore in Orrin Hatch as a lawyer in Pittsburgh years ago. "He won his first case." ( "Oh, that's sweet," said Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, laughing. "I never knew you won one," Leahy said to Hatch.) "I have been a judge for 45 of my 86 years and based on my experience I can represent to this committee that Judge Alito has to be included among...
By Fred Barbash | January 12, 2006; 03:43 PM ET | Comments (5)
Judges in Support of Alito
A group of judges testified in support of Judge Alito. Judge Edward Becker of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit (Alito's court) was the first to speak. Sen. Specter noted that Becker was appearing at Specter's request. Becker said Alito was a "wonderful human being . . . decent, kind, generous, modest and self-effacing." "There is an aspect of appellate judging that no one gets to see" except the judges themselves, that is, the conference after an oral argument. "I have never seen Sam raise his voice," he said, or behave in any way that was not temperate. "He will often change his mind" after listening to colleagues. Becker noted that his own wife owns Vanguard funds but that he (Becker) does not include Vanguard on his standing list for recusal and believes that there is no reason...
By Fred Barbash | January 12, 2006; 03:26 PM ET | Email a Comment
American Bar Association
A three-person committee of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Judiciary appeared with chairman Stephen Tober speaking for it. As has already been reported, the committee, after reviewing Judge Alito's work and interviewing 300 people including experts and other federal judges and Judge Alito himself, found him exceptionally well qualified. That is the ABA's highest rating. Tober said the committee reviewed Alito's recusal practices, including the Vanguard matter that was cited by Democrats in the hearing, and found no ethical problems and nothing to quarrel with. Alito made a few mistakes on recusals, the panel found, but they were very few and there was no pattern. Tober, questioned by Sen. Specter, said some of Alito's colleagues on the bench called him "a judge's judge." Based on the interviews, Tober said: "This is a judge who brings pragmatic skills to...
By Fred Barbash | January 12, 2006; 02:39 PM ET | Comments (6)
Outside Witnesses
The hearing has resumed. Witnesses (31) pro and con will testify, as well as representatives of the American Bar Association. Chairman Specter reported that the background check of Judge Alito produced nothing of consequence....
By Fred Barbash | January 12, 2006; 02:32 PM ET | Email a Comment
Transcript
Click here for a transcript from this morning's hearings....
By Fred Barbash | January 12, 2006; 02:09 PM ET | Email a Comment
Alito is Finished; Committee to go in Executive Session
The Judiciary Committee has concluded questioning of Judge Alito after a total of 18 hours of inquiry. The committee will go into executive session -- a routine matter -- to review any relevant material that arose in the FBI background check. Sen. Specter stressed that the executive session does not mean anything has come up. At 2.30 p.m., witnesses pro and con Alito will begin their testimony....
By Fred Barbash | January 12, 2006; 01:11 PM ET | Comments (41)
Durbin Questions on Search
Sen. Durbin (D-Ill.) pressed Alito about his ruling on searches by government agents and went back to a case raised earlier in the hearings, Doe v. Groody, in which a 10-year-old girl was strip searched by police officers investigating drug transactions. Alito said he was concerned about the age of the child and said so in his dissent on the case. But he said the issue in the case concerned the interpretation of the warrant and not the action of the police....
By Lexie Verdon | January 12, 2006; 01:11 PM ET | Comments (1)
Sessions on Separation of Powers
Sen. Sessions (R-Ala.) had few questions for Alito but made the point that it was too early for a judicial nominee to be commenting on the question of whether the president had broken the law by ordering NSA eavesdropping of Americans without a warrant. Alito agreed....
By Lexie Verdon | January 12, 2006; 01:05 PM ET | Email a Comment
Schumer
Schumer told Alito he probably won't vote for him. "I remain very troubled" Schumer told Alito, about his record "in which you all too often reach for the legal theory that allows you to side with the more powerful....Unfortunately, by refusing to confront our questions directly, many of us have no choice but to conclude that you still embrace those views," Schumer said. This comment was preceded by a series of questions from Schumer, in which he ran through a series of Alito opinions and dissents designed by Schumer to support his contention that Alito is a judge who uses technical issues of jurisdiction, exhaustion of remedies, etc.,. to avoid hearing cases brought by the individual in civil as well as criminal cases. Schumer, his time running out, showed little patience to sit and listen to Alito's rather lengthy answers, which tend to be drawn out and utterly...
By Fred Barbash | January 12, 2006; 12:30 PM ET | Comments (15)
Feingold
Much to Sen. Feingold's (D-Wis.) irritation, Alito declined again to say whether an innocent person has a constitutional right not to be executed. Rather than answering it, Alito dwells on technical matters relating to the availability of the federal courts for relief in various habeas corpus situations. On another matter, Feingold did elicit from Alito agreement that under our system, "evidence obtained by torture" is not admissible evidence and that the Fifth Amendment forbids compelled self-incrimination which, Alito said, is exactly the issue raised by torture. On a wholly unrelated matter, Feingold raised an objection to the fact that a group of federal judges are planning on testifying in support of Alito. Feingold asked whether Alito would need to recuse himself from cases from those judges as a consequence of their appearance. Alito said he has not thought about this....
By Fred Barbash | January 12, 2006; 12:11 PM ET | Comments (2)
So far...
The hearings are winding down. Most of the questions are now strictly for the record or promotional statements on behalf of the pet interests of senators on the panel, such as Sen. Grassley's interest in the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which concerns the role of whisleblowers in recovering funds for fraud against the government. The act is "serving a purpose and I'd like you to look at it in a completely unbiased way," Grassley said, prompting laughter from the committee, as if to recognize that these statements have lost any connection with the confirmation process. Sen. Feinstein's lengthy questioning on the power of the president to eavesdrop under the Foreign Intellitence Surveillance Act also appeared to contain no question, serving merely as a soapbox for Feinstein. ...
By Fred Barbash | January 12, 2006; 11:48 AM ET | Email a Comment
Feinstein on Presidential Power
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) pressed Judge Alito on what restrictions Congress might have over a president's power as commander in chief. She asked directly about the president's ability to order eavesdropping of Americans even though Congress did not authorize the program. Alito said again that the president like everyone else is bound by statutes enacted by Congress if the laws are constitutional, but he said a conflict between Congress and the president would require judges to seek to interpret the statutes and perhaps an analysis of whether the president's inherent pwoers are sufficient for the action. He said he was not suggestion how such a determination in this issue would come out....
By Lexie Verdon | January 12, 2006; 11:44 AM ET | Comments (2)
Video: Alito Queried on Vanguard -- Again
Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. defends his handling of the Vanguard recusal in an exchange with Sen. Kennedy. Click below for the video excerpt: var movieSrc = "http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/mmedia/player/player2.swf?whichMode=normal&justify=center&playad=no&mediatype=stream&postdir=nation&postvideo=011206-3v&cuesfile=none&autoplay=no&starttime=0&endtime=0&largerver=none&image=011206-3v&playlistxml=none" ; //URL OF WHERE .SWF MOVIE IS PUBLISHED var movieWidth = "427" ; //FLASH MOVIE AND BACK-UP GRAPHIC WIDTH var movieHeight = "300" ; //FLASH MOVIE AND BACK-UP GRAPHIC HEIGHT var backupGraphic = "no" ; // If you have a backup graphic "yes" or "no" var graphicSrc = "" ; var graphicLink = "" ; //requiredVersion: Change this to 8 to test your alternate text. var requiredVersion = 7; // version the user needs to view site (max is 7, min is 2) var useRedirect = false; // "true" loads new flash or non-flash page into browser // "false" embeds movie or alternate html code into current page // set next three vars if useRedirect is true... var flashPage =...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | January 12, 2006; 11:03 AM ET | Comments (4)
Biden: War Powers of President
Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), reflecting the Democrats' increasing focus on presidential power in time of war, focused on the division of war-related powers between Congress and the president. Alito said that it is unsettled whether the president can invade a country without the authorization of Congress. He enumerated the war-related powers vested in Congress and those vested in the president and went back over the history of the War Powers Resolution, but did not give his own opinion. Biden then suggested that Alito "agrees" with the argument that the president has the authority to move to a state of war without congressional authorization. "I did not mean to say that," Alito said. Biden asked again whether the president can go to war without the approval of Congress, and whether he can just go ahead and violate international law ("that's the administration's position," said Biden.) "I would...
By Fred Barbash | January 12, 2006; 10:38 AM ET | Comments (2)
Hatch Takes Exception
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) took strong exception to Sen. Kennedy's questioning of Alito on the issue of his membership in the Princeton CAP alumni group and whether the judge failed to recuse himself froma 3rd Circuit case involving Vanguard mutual funds while Alito had money invested in the funds group. Hatch said bringing up the issues again was not necessary. He said Alito abided by the judicial rules and that he recognized that he made a mistake in initially working on the Vanguard case and recused himself when he needed to. Hatch added that Alito's record was examined by the American Bar Association and he received an excellent rating and several ethics officials found nothing improper in Alito's actions. "You lived up to the law," Hatch said. " . . . I don't think you've been fairly treated."...
By Lexie Verdon | January 12, 2006; 10:15 AM ET | Comments (9)
Sen. Kennedy Returns to Vanguard
Kennedy continued to pound away at the issue of whether or not Alito behaved properly when he failed to recuse himself from a 3d Circuit cases involving Vanguard mutual funds, in which he had a substantial investment, especially in light of a promise he made to the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearings for the appeals court. Kennedy said Alito had given too many different explanations as to why he did not recuse himself-a computer glitch, a time lag between the pledge to the committee and the case, which was 12 years later, the fact that it was a "pro se" case in which the plantiff represented herself...and so on. How come, Kennedy asked, he did not put Vanguard on his "standing recusal list" at the 3d circuit, which helps judges spot cases where they might have the appearance of a conflict. Alito...
By Fred Barbash | January 12, 2006; 10:08 AM ET | Comments (13)
Leahy: End of Life Issues, etc.,
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) asked Alito about so-called "end of life" issues, including Washington v. Glucksberg in 1996, in which the court declined to affirm a right to assisted suicide, the Nancy Cruzan case, Cruzan v. Director, in 1990, in which the court declared a right to refuse medical treatment, and the case last year of Terri Schiavo. Assume, for the sake of argument, that each individual has a right to say they don't want medical treatment, Alito said. English common law would make such treatment an assault, basically. Cruzan assumed that it would be a fundamental constitutional right, he noted, without expressing his own view on the subject. With regard to Schiavo, Leahy asked if a Senate committee could subpoena a death row inmate to testify just hours before his scheduled execution, holding it up, a variation on a move Republicans attempted in the...
By Fred Barbash | January 12, 2006; 09:21 AM ET | Email a Comment
No Alito Mention in CAP Files
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said the Judiciary Committee staff, accompanied by representatives of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), reviewed four boxes of documents pertaining to a Concerned Alumni of Princeton and found no mention of Alito. Alito has told the committee he has no memory of joining the now defunct alumni organization that, among other things, opposed co-education at Princeton. But he did put the membership down on a job application for the Reagan administration. Among the documents were canceled checks for subscriptions to the organization's magazine, Prospect, which Sen. Kennedy quoted yesterday in an apparent attempt to link Alito with them. No record of any subscription for Alito was found. This pertains to attempts by Democrats to challenge Alito's candor in his statements about his recollections of CAP. Alito had said he had no recollection of any significant involvement with CAP. Kennedy, attempting to...
By Fred Barbash | January 12, 2006; 09:09 AM ET | Comments (62)
Hearing Finishes for the Evening
Hearings will resume at 9 a.m. tomorrow, Sen. Specter announced at about 6:30 p.m., closing the third day of hearings on Judge Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court. Democrats, who want more time to question the federal appeals court judge, convinced Specter to break for the night so that they could look at the transcripts of the hearings and, in Sen. Patrick Leahy's words, "ask better questions." Leahy (D-Vt.) said the long day had been a "strain" for both Alito and his family. Nine hours after the day's hearings began, Specter complimented the judge on the "remarkable stamina" and "remarkable patience" he had shown. "People may not like your answers," Specter concluded, "but they are your answers." Also expected to testify tomorrow are witnesses who both oppose and support Judge Alito's nomination....
By JoBecker | January 11, 2006; 06:44 PM ET | Comments (13)
Sen. Coburn
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) sought to defend Alito on the Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP) issue, noting that Coburn was a member of the American Medical Association and certainly did not agree with everything it did and said. Thus, he said, it was unfair to associate Alito with various comments, some of them said to be racist, made in a CAP publication. Having worked in the fact that he is a physician, Coburn asked Alito how the courts can make decisions involving medical or scientific concepts, such as the viability of a fetus at any particular point in a pregnancy. All knowledge, Alito responded, is relevant to the decision-making process and the courts should be receptive to considering how it might be relevant, if at all, to the law. Coburn then asked how someone could be held accountable for the death of an...
By Fred Barbash | January 11, 2006; 06:32 PM ET | Comments (4)
Alito Hearings -- Video Archive
FRIDAY * At the confirmation hearings for Judge Samuel Alito Friday, Jack White testifies about his experience as a clerk for Alito from 2003 to 2004 * At the confirmation hearings for judge Samuel Alito Friday, Kate Michelman, former president of pro-choice activist organization NARAL, testifies. Michelman discusses her own abortion experience and Alito's view of privacy rights THURSDAY * Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. answers questions from Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) about congressional power in regard to end of life and death penalty issues. * Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. defends his handling of the Vanguard recusal in an exchange with Sen. Kennedy. WEDNESDAY * Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) asked Alito about studies that he said show that Alito has tended to go against defendants in death penalty cases. Alito responded by enumerating cases in which he went the other way, in favor of the...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | January 11, 2006; 06:30 PM ET | Comments (17)
Sen. Brownback
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), not surprisingly, said he will vote in favor of Alito, then yielded the rest of his 20 minutes to another Republican senator. Outnumbered Democrats do not have the votes to stop the nomination, and have not indicated that they are likely to mount a filibuster to delay the vote....
By JoBecker | January 11, 2006; 06:24 PM ET | Email a Comment
Video: Sen. Feingold's Questions on Capital Punishment
Click below to watch a video excerpt of Sen. Feingold's second round of questioning, in which he said studies have shown that Alito has tended to go against defendants in death penalty cases. Alito responded by enumerating cases in which he went the other way, in favor of the defendant: var movieSrc = "http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/mmedia/player/player2.swf?whichMode=normal&justify=center&playad=no&mediatype=stream&postdir=nation&postvideo=011106-9v&cuesfile=none&autoplay=no&starttime=0&endtime=0&largerver=none&image=alitohearing&playlistxml=none" ; //URL OF WHERE .SWF MOVIE IS PUBLISHED var movieWidth = "427" ; //FLASH MOVIE AND BACK-UP GRAPHIC WIDTH var movieHeight = "300" ; //FLASH MOVIE AND BACK-UP GRAPHIC HEIGHT var backupGraphic = "no" ; // If you have a backup graphic "yes" or "no" var graphicSrc = "" ; var graphicLink = "" ; //requiredVersion: Change this to 8 to test your alternate text. var requiredVersion = 7; // version the user needs to view site (max is 7, min is 2) var useRedirect = false; // "true" loads new flash or non-flash page into...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | January 11, 2006; 06:20 PM ET | Comments (1)
Sen. Durbin
Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) picks up on the "unitary executive" theme that Democrats have raised several times because of a speech Alito once delivered on the subject. Alito repeated that his own view of the "unitary executive" does not confer upon the president additional power vis a vis the other branches of government. "When I talk about unitary executive I'm talking about the president's control over the executive branch," not the power of the executive branch. Democrats have focused on this issue with some intensity because of pending legal issues involving the president's national security powers to detain individuals without trial and to order eavesdropping. Durbin asked Alito what role his personal religious or moral beliefs might have on his work on the bench. He said the answer was none . . . the same answer given by Chief Justice John Roberts during...
By Fred Barbash | January 11, 2006; 06:19 PM ET | Comments (5)
Alito's Wife
Judge Alito's wife, Martha, is back in the hearing room after leaving in tears. Martha Alito, center, broke into tears and left the hearing room late on day three of her husband's confirmation hearings. (Source: AP Video) Mrs. Alito broke down during an exchange in which Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), an Alito supporter, played devil's advocate to Democratic attacks on Alito's membership in a controversial alumni group by asking, "Are you really a closet bigot?" Alito said no, and Graham said he had believed him because of the way "you have lived you life." Graham then said, "I am sorry that your family has had to sit here and listen to this." Mrs. Alito started crying, and left the room. She returned after a committee break with her husband....
By JoBecker | January 11, 2006; 06:11 PM ET | Comments (59)
Sen. John Cornyn
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) barely asked Alito a question during his 20 minutes, instead using some of his time to opine that Alito has been quite responsive to the many probing questions that other senators have asked. Republican staffers have been doing a little research throughout the day, and Cornyn held up the product of that work -- a chart purporting to show that Alito has answered a greater percentage of questions than did Chief Justice John G. Roberts or Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg during their confirmation hearings. When Cornyn did get around to pressing Alito, it was to query him on whether he was a clone of other conservative judges, as some of Alito's critics have claimed. "I am who I am, and I'm my own person," Alito replied. "You are indeed your own man," Cornyn concluded. Cornyn declared that Alito is a man of integrity and that his...
By JoBecker | January 11, 2006; 05:44 PM ET | Email a Comment
Sen. Graham defends Alito, predicts he won't get as many votes as Roberts
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham used his time to declare himself satisfied with Judge Alito's explanations about his membership in a controversial Princeton University alumni group and his failure to recuse himself, as he promised the Senate in 1990, from a case involving the Vanguard Group, which handles his mutual fund investments. Graham's declarations followed what has become a pattern on this third day of confirmation hearings: Democrats use their time to criticize Alito on a variety of issues, Republicans then ask friendly questions to allow Alito to rebut those criticisms. Graham said he had been scratching his head, trying to figure out why Alito would have purposefully declined to recuse himself from cases involving Vanguard. Replied Alito: "There's no reason why I would make such a conscious decision." Alito said the "idea that the outcome of this case could have some effect" on his personal finances is "preposterous." Moving on,...
By JoBecker | January 11, 2006; 05:11 PM ET | Comments (6)
Sen. Schumer
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) resumes the "minuet," as Sen. Specter has called it, over Roe v. Wade. It's ridiculous, Schumer said, for the newspapers to be headlining Alito's comment yesterday that he will be "open minded" on Roe. "I'll keep an open mind . . . Judge Alito," Schumer said, "Have you ever heard a nominee testify that he would not be open-minded." He ran through the same exercise with Alito's other comments: that no man is above the law, that he respects precedent, and so on. "Someone pledging an open mind doesn't tell us very much," said Schumer. "These are responses not answers,'" he said. Then he resumed what has become the Democratic tactic of exposing Alito as cherry-picking his answers, commenting on some issues, such as one-man, one vote -- but not on others, such as Roe v. Wade. How come, Schumer asked, "you...
By Fred Barbash | January 11, 2006; 05:07 PM ET | Comments (12)
Sen. Feingold
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) raised the issue of capital punishment, claiming that studies have shown that Alito has tended to go against defendants in death penalty cases. Alito responded by enumerating cases in which he went the other way, in favor of the defendant. Feingold asked whether he agreed with Justice John Paul Stevens that three issues -- jury selection, inadequate legal representation and pressure felt by elected state judges -- were tainting death penalty cases. Did he agree, Feingold asked, with the Supreme Court's holdings that capital punishment cannot be applied to retarded people or juveniles. Alito said he recognized these decisions as precedent. "I would work within the body of precedent that's available," he said. Feingold pressed him further on his failure to recuse in a case involving Vanguard at a time he owned Vanguard mutual funds and drew the same defense Alito had...
By Fred Barbash | January 11, 2006; 04:40 PM ET | Comments (42)
Sen. Sessions
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) used his time to rebut Democratic charges that Alito, as a judge, has accumulated a pattern of tilting against the individual, going through a list of cases where Alito ruled for individuals. The critics have "cherry picked" through the cases, Sessions said. Then he rebutted charges that Alito tilted against environmental causes. Then he quoted an article by the National Journal's Stuart Taylor rebutting charges that Alito tilted against individuals and another article that quoted people describing Alito as "fair minded." The Taylor article has been widely quoted during the hearing. Republicans have not quoted another Taylor article suggesting the Alito is more of a right winger than commonly believed. Then he quoted all kind of other people saying good things about Alito. He asked no real questions....
By Fred Barbash | January 11, 2006; 04:07 PM ET | Comments (4)
Sen. Feinstein on abortion, end of life decisions
Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) picked up where her colleagues left off in pressing Alito on his views on Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case granting women the right to an abortion. She noted that in answering questions on Tuesday, Alito said that the principle of stare decisis -- giving weight to prior court precedents -- is not an "inexorable command." Feinstein noted that the late Justice William H. Rehnquist used the same "inexorable" term to argue for overturning Roe, and asked Alito "did you mean it that way?" Alito said he believed that "the statement that precedent is not an inexorable command" has been used in other cases. Feinstein read from a transcript of last year's confirmation hearings of Chief Justice John G. Roberts. Contrary to the statements of a Republican senator earlier in the day, she noted that Roberts had in fact stated that Roe is the "settled"...
By JoBecker | January 11, 2006; 03:56 PM ET | Comments (11)
Sen. DeWine
Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) engaged Alito in a largely academic discussion about doctrines of free speech, specifically about access to public forums and commmercial speech. Alito responded by describing, accurately, the state of Supreme Court jurisprudence in these fields. It was not clear what, if anything, DeWine was looking for, other than to express what he called his own "concerns" about restrictions on public forums. This appeared to be an example of the oft-noted phenomenon of senators using confirmation hearings to attempt to influence the thinking of future justices....
By Fred Barbash | January 11, 2006; 03:26 PM ET | Comments (2)
Round 2 on Alito alumni group
Round two in the battle over Alito's membership in Concerned Alumni of Princeton went to Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), after Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) announced that he had arranged for the Democrats to peruse the group's records. Earlier in the day, the two senators traded sharp words after Kennedy proposed issuing a subpoena for the group's records, held in a private collection at the Library of Congress. Alito listed his membership in the controversial group on a 1985 job application, but has testified that he has no recollection of joining or being an active member. He has disavowed some of the group's controversial positions, such as its opposition to Princeton University's programs to diversify the once all-male student body. Specter said he did not immediately get Kennedy's December written request for the group's records because of a mix-up. He said that given the fact that he and...
By JoBecker | January 11, 2006; 03:14 PM ET | Comments (12)
Sen. Kohl
The Democrats are increasingly using as a line of attack the charge that Alito has "distanced himself" from the sentiments he voiced in the past, on issues such as abortion, reapportionment, and the role of the courts in upholding traditional values. They continue, as well, to suggest that he is answering questions selectively. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), for example, wanted to know why Alito comments on the underlying principles on some precedents but declined to comment on the underlying principles of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing abortion. Alito said it's important to distinguish between issues that could realistically come before the court -- issues that are in play --a nd issues that are not, such as Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 ruling declaring school segregation unconstitutional. Roe is "involved in a considerable amount of litigation before the courts," Alito said, and therefore he...
By Fred Barbash | January 11, 2006; 02:56 PM ET | Comments (22)
Alito explains refusal to answer more abortion questions, "disavows" alumni group
Answering a question from Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Alito said that the Supreme Court frequently hears cases involving abortion rights, explaining his refusal to spell out in advance how he might rule on abortion cases. "To do that would undermine the entire judicial decision-making process," Alito said. "When an issue comes before us, the briefs are not a formality. The arguments made by the attorneys are not a formality." Alito said judges need to study those arguments, not jump to a conclusion in advance. "You shouldn't decide legal questions," he said, "even in our own minds without going through that whole process." If judges did that, he said, "people would lose all their respect for the judicial system." Kyle, referring to what he called the "scurrilous material" read into the record by Sen. Kennedy concerning positions held by the controversial alumni group, Concerned Alumni of Princeton, asked Alto whether...
By JoBecker | January 11, 2006; 02:38 PM ET | Comments (12)
Sen. Biden
Sen. Biden (D-Del.), following Kennedy's lead, focused once again on Alito's one-time membership in Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP). Biden donned a Princeton Cap, "proudly," he said, because a large percentage of the students are now women and minorities. "When you listed CAP" in his 1985 job application, Biden asked, was he doing it just to impress the higher-ups in the Reagan administration. "Because you don't impress me as someone . . . that would want to keep Princeton" as an all-male institution. "You don't impress me as belonging to that club. . . . Only thing I can figure," said Biden, is that Alito was trying to impress the Reagan administration and get a job. Alito said that by the time he entered Princeton there were many minorities in the class and Princeton went coeducational while he was a student there. Biden then cut him off before...
By Fred Barbash | January 11, 2006; 02:20 PM ET | Comments (6)
Transcript of Today's Hearing
Click here for morning transcript of the hearings....
By Fred Barbash | January 11, 2006; 02:03 PM ET | Comments (3)
Video: Specter-Kennedy Clash on Alumni Group
Click below to watch a video of Sen. Kennedy proposing that a subpoena be issued to obtain records from Concerned Alumni of Princeton regarding Alito's membership. Chairman Specter responds: var movieSrc = "http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/mmedia/player/player2.swf?whichMode=normal&justify=center&playad=no&mediatype=stream&postdir=nation&postvideo=011106-6v&cuesfile=none&autoplay=no&starttime=0&endtime=0&largerver=none&image=alitohearing&playlistxml=none" ; //URL OF WHERE .SWF MOVIE IS PUBLISHED var movieWidth = "427" ; //FLASH MOVIE AND BACK-UP GRAPHIC WIDTH var movieHeight = "300" ; //FLASH MOVIE AND BACK-UP GRAPHIC HEIGHT var backupGraphic = "no" ; // If you have a backup graphic "yes" or "no" var graphicSrc = "" ; var graphicLink = "" ; //requiredVersion: Change this to 8 to test your alternate text. var requiredVersion = 7; // version the user needs to view site (max is 7, min is 2) var useRedirect = false; // "true" loads new flash or non-flash page into browser // "false" embeds movie or alternate html code into current page // set next three vars if useRedirect is true......
By washingtonpost.com Editors | January 11, 2006; 01:29 PM ET | Comments (34)
Video: Leahy's Questions on Presidential Powers
Click below for Sen. Leahy and Alito discussing the pesident's power to authorize eavesdropping that is otherwise prohibited by Congress: var movieSrc = "http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/mmedia/player/player2.swf?whichMode=normal&justify=center&playad=no&mediatype=stream&postdir=nation&postvideo=011106-7v&cuesfile=none&autoplay=no&starttime=0&endtime=0&largerver=none&image=alitohearing&playlistxml=none" ; //URL OF WHERE .SWF MOVIE IS PUBLISHED var movieWidth = "427" ; //FLASH MOVIE AND BACK-UP GRAPHIC WIDTH var movieHeight = "300" ; //FLASH MOVIE AND BACK-UP GRAPHIC HEIGHT var backupGraphic = "no" ; // If you have a backup graphic "yes" or "no" var graphicSrc = "" ; var graphicLink = "" ; //requiredVersion: Change this to 8 to test your alternate text. var requiredVersion = 7; // version the user needs to view site (max is 7, min is 2) var useRedirect = false; // "true" loads new flash or non-flash page into browser // "false" embeds movie or alternate html code into current page // set next three vars if useRedirect is true... var flashPage = "flash.htm"; // the location of the...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | January 11, 2006; 01:15 PM ET | Email a Comment
Sen. Grassley
Moments after Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) went at it, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) told Alito that his opponents were "desperate." Comparing Alito to a quarterback whose team is ahead in the fourth quarter, Grassley charged that Democrats are going to keep "trying to sack you." "They haven't hit you all day," he said, so expect some "last minute Hail Marys." In an apparent reference to Sen. Kennedy's request that the Senate subpoena records from a conservative alumni group that Alito once said he was a member of, Grassley told Alito that his critics are "grasping at any straw . . . to tarnish your reputation." Responding to another Grassley question, Alito elaborated on 1980s-era memo in which he criticized 1960s-era Supreme Court decisions on legislative reapportionment. The most famous of those decisions established the "one-man, one-vote principle" requiring legislative districts to be...
By JoBecker | January 11, 2006; 01:05 PM ET | Comments (12)
Alito & "The Women"
Jonathan Darman, writing for Newsweek's Web site Wednesday ("Getting to Know You"), gives political junkies who are glued to the Alito hearings the final word on a question popping up on political blogs -- who is the woman who can be seen over Judge Alito's left shoulder? Judge Alito, flanked by his wife, Martha (left), and Rachel Brand, Assistant U.S. Attorney General. (Source: AP Video) Darman identifies her as Rachel Brand, the Assistant Attorney General assigned to help shepherd Alito through the hearings. Darman describes Brand and Martha Alito, the judge's wife (who appears over his right shoulder), as "two rosy angels." "Seated just behind him as he took the podium yesterday were nine females, including his wife, sister, daughter and mother-in-law. These women were largely silent (though the Alito women were overheard breezily joking with one another on a ladies' room break). But their mere appearance makes a difference....
By washingtonpost.com Editors | January 11, 2006; 12:55 PM ET | Comments (2)
Kennedy and Specter Have Words
Things really got ugly -- really ugly -- between Sens. Kennedy and Specter. Kennedy (D-Mass.) asked further hostile questions on CAP -- the Princeton University concerned alumni organization that, among other things, opposed co-education at the university. Kennedy said he did not think Alito's responses to the committee on CAP "add up." Kennedy proposed issuing a subpoena to the owner of the organization's records and go into executive session to do so. Specter reacted angrily, asking why Kennedy had brought this up in public as opposed to consulting with Specter on it in advance. Kennedy claimed he sent Specter a letter. Specter, angrily, said he never got one. "If you're going to rule it [a subpoena] out of order, I want to have a vote on that," Kennedy said. "I take umbrage at you telling me what I received," Specter said, with growing anger. ...
By Fred Barbash | January 11, 2006; 12:42 PM ET | Comments (195)
Video: Alito on Stare Decisis
Click below to watch a video excerpt from Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-Okla.) question period, in which he asked Alito about stare decisis: var movieSrc = "http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/mmedia/player/player2.swf?whichMode=normal&justify=center&playad=no&mediatype=stream&postdir=nation&postvideo=011106-4v&cuesfile=none&autoplay=no&starttime=0&endtime=0&largerver=none&image=alitohearing&playlistxml=none" ; //URL OF WHERE .SWF MOVIE IS PUBLISHED var movieWidth = "427" ; //FLASH MOVIE AND BACK-UP GRAPHIC WIDTH var movieHeight = "300" ; //FLASH MOVIE AND BACK-UP GRAPHIC HEIGHT var backupGraphic = "no" ; // If you have a backup graphic "yes" or "no" var graphicSrc = "" ; var graphicLink = "" ; //requiredVersion: Change this to 8 to test your alternate text. var requiredVersion = 7; // version the user needs to view site (max is 7, min is 2) var useRedirect = false; // "true" loads new flash or non-flash page into browser // "false" embeds movie or alternate html code into current page // set next three vars if useRedirect is true... var flashPage = "flash.htm"; // the location...
By washingtonpost.com Editors | January 11, 2006; 11:50 AM ET | Email a Comment
Sen. Leahy
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt) had a significant exchange with Alito on the subject of the President's power to authorize eavesdropping that is otherwise prohibited by Congress: LEAHY: Could he order the FBI to conduct surveillance in a way not authorized by statute? ALITO: The president is subject to constitutional restrictions and he cannot lawfully direct the FBI or anybody in the Justice Department or anybody else in the executive branch to do anything that violates the Constitution. LEAHY: I'm speaking now of statute. Could he order our intelligence agencies to do something that was specifically prohibited by statute? ALITO: Well, my answer to that is the same thing. He has to follow the Constitution and the laws of the United States. He has to take care that the laws are faithfully executed. If a statute is unconstitutional, then the Constitution would trump the statute. But if a statute is...
By Fred Barbash | January 11, 2006; 11:49 AM ET | Email a Comment
Sen. Specter Chastises Supreme Court
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) led off the second round of questioning by senators with a series of questions regarding congressional power. The Supreme Court in recent years has struck down all or part of a number of major legislative initiatives, something Specter called an "insult" to elected lawmakers. Do you judges have some method of reasoning superior to the method of reasoning used by the Congress, Specter asked. "I would never suggest that judges have superior reasoning power," Alito said. And he thought that even after appearing here for a day-and-a-half?, Specter jokingly asked Alito. Alito, wisely, said he did. While the exchange was lighthearted, the questioning went to a key question. Congress must ground legislation that it passes in the Constitution, which gives it the authority to regulate interstate commerce as well as to enforce provisions of the 14th Amendment. The court has from time to time questioned the...
By JoBecker | January 11, 2006; 11:29 AM ET | Comments (3)
Sen. Coburn on Foreign Law and "Heart"
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) pursued two themes, the citation in court opinions of foreign law and whether, and to what extent, Alito is a man with "heart," the latter question giving Alito an opportunity, once again, to refer to the fact that his parents were poor immigrants and to demonstrate that judging is more than a matter of dry case law. "You've been unfairly characterized" as not caring about "the little guy, the weak and the poor," Coburn said. How do you plead? "When I get a case about discrimination," said Alito (clearly prepared for such a question). "I have to think of people in my own family who suffered discrimination" because of ethnic origin or gender. "I tried to provide a little picture of who I am as a human being and how my background and experiences...
By Fred Barbash | January 11, 2006; 10:54 AM ET | Comments (3)
Brownback on Roe
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) used most of his time as a forum to criticize the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that granted women the right to an abortion in 1973 and has been affirmed numerous times since. Brownback told Alito that justices should not always vote to uphold prior court decisions just because they are so-called "super-duper precedents." Sometimes, he said, the court gets it wrong, as it did in upholding the separate but equal doctrine in the Plessy case. Clearly some court precedents aren't deserving of respect because they are "repugnant to the Constitution," Brownback said, a broad view that Alito said he could agree with. Brownback then cited a number of liberals criticizing the reasoning of Roe. "Settled law?," he asked. "Superduper precedents?" Some don't seem to think so, he said. Alito calmly gazed at the senator, waiting for a question. Brownback also quizzed Alito on his...
By JoBecker | January 11, 2006; 10:45 AM ET | Comments (6)
Sen. Durbin
Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said he, and others, were concerned that Alito would be a deciding vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. He was concerned, he said, because Alito has declined to disown his 1985 memo saying there was no constitutional basis for a right to abortion and because he declined to state his current views on Roe. Why, Durbin asked him, was he willing to answer questions about Griswold [the 1965 decision establishing a right to privacy in the context of contraceptives] and Brown [v Board of Education] but not Roe v. Wade. "For you to say that you'rr for Griswold . . . but you can't bring yourself to say there is a constitutional right to a woman's privacy . . . I'm troubled by that." Alito said Brown was squarely based on the Equal Protection Clause. Griswold, while based on "emanations and...
By Fred Barbash | January 11, 2006; 09:53 AM ET | Comments (3)
Best Blog Commentary on Alito Hearings
The award for most entertaining blog commentary on yesterday's hearings goes to Professor Stephen Bainbridge at professorbainbridge.com:After catching up on the first day of the Alito hearings, one conclusion seems inescapable; namely, that Alito is more machine now than man; twisted and evil. He yearns to take liberals, women, minorities, gays, small children, and puppies to the Dune Sea, and cast them into the pit of Carkoon, the nesting place of the all-powerful Sarlaac, in whose belly they will find a new definition of pain and suffering as they are slowly digested over a thousand years. (Or maybe it's the slavering maw of Cthulhu the Great. I zoned out for awhile during Durbin's opening remarks.) Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen. Schumer and Leahy's feeble skills are no match for the power of the Dark Side........
By Fred Barbash | January 11, 2006; 08:05 AM ET | Comments (17)