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No Evil Alito Thread?

sanjuro

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Sep 13, 2004
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1. He seems like a competent judge.

2. He does not seem like some crazy Borkian character.

3. So what if he is conservative?
 

Old Man G Funk

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Nov 21, 2005
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sanjuro said:
1. He seems like a competent judge.

2. He does not seem like some crazy Borkian character.

3. So what if he is conservative?
My complaints are that he doesn't seem to understand the First Amendment and separation of church and state, and he will certainly do all he can to oppose abortion rights. I believe that he also stands for increased powers of the executive (who cares if they illegally wiretap?)
 

sanjuro

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Old Man G Funk said:
My complaints are that he doesn't seem to understand the First Amendment and separation of church and state, and he will certainly do all he can to oppose abortion rights. I believe that he also stands for increased powers of the executive (who cares if they illegally wiretap?)
Presidential Power Has Limits, Alito Tells Senators
By DAVID STOUT
WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 - Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. said today that he wholeheartedly agreed with the principle that a president does not have "a blank check" in terms of power, especially during wartime.

"The Constitution applies in times of peace and war," President Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court said in the first round of questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The Bill of Rights applies at all times."

In the second day of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee on his nomination to the United States Supreme Court, Judge Alito said, preservation of individual rights is particularly important in wartime because that is when the temptation to abuse liberties in the name of national security is most dangerous.
 

Old Man G Funk

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Nov 21, 2005
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sanjuro said:
Presidential Power Has Limits, Alito Tells Senators
By DAVID STOUT
WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 - Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. said today that he wholeheartedly agreed with the principle that a president does not have "a blank check" in terms of power, especially during wartime.

"The Constitution applies in times of peace and war," President Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court said in the first round of questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The Bill of Rights applies at all times."

In the second day of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee on his nomination to the United States Supreme Court, Judge Alito said, preservation of individual rights is particularly important in wartime because that is when the temptation to abuse liberties in the name of national security is most dangerous.
Let's hope he sticks to that. My other criticisms are still valid.
 

sanjuro

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Sep 13, 2004
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I love Supreme Court nominations. I am not a lawyer, so this is really my only chance to learn about the law process.
 

Andyman_1970

Turbo Monkey
Apr 4, 2003
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I'm not sure what the dudes record is, all I can say is that I'm getting sick of getting emails from Focus on the Family and those I go to church with implying that "if you were a good Christian you'd get a hold of your senator/congressperson and "pressure" them to approve Mr. Alito"...............:rolleyes:
 

DRB

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Oct 24, 2002
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Andyman_1970 said:
I'm not sure what the dudes record is, all I can say is that I'm getting sick of getting emails from Focus on the Family and those I go to church with implying that "if you were a good Christian you'd get a hold of your senator/congressperson and "pressure" them to approve Mr. Alito"...............:rolleyes:
Then tell them to take you off their mailing list if it bothers you so much.
 

Tenchiro

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Jul 19, 2002
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Andyman_1970 said:
I'm not sure what the dudes record is, all I can say is that I'm getting sick of getting emails from Focus on the Family and those I go to church with implying that "if you were a good Christian you'd get a hold of your senator/congressperson and "pressure" them to approve Mr. Alito"...............:rolleyes:

You would think that the Xtians would be up in arms, according to Wiki he has supported abortion rights in 3 of 4 rulings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_A._Alito,_Jr.#Case_history

Abortion

Samuel Alito supported limited abortion rights in 3 out of 4 rulings as described below. [17]

  • A dissenting opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 947 F.2d 682 (3d Cir. 1991), arguing that a Pennsylvania law that required women seeking abortions to inform their husbands should have been upheld. Judge Alito wrote:

    "[t]he Pennsylvania legislature could have rationally believed that some married women are initially inclined to obtain an abortion without their husbands' knowledge because of perceived problems — such as economic constraints, future plans, or the husbands' previously expressed opposition — that may be obviated by discussion prior to the abortion." He added some exceptions: "These exceptions apply if a woman certifies that she has not notified her husband because she believes [FN4] that (1) he is not the father of the child, (2) he cannot be found after diligent effort, (3) the pregnancy is the result of a spousal asexual assault that has been reported to the authorities, or (4) she has reason to believe that notification is likely to result in the infliction of bodily injury upon her."​
    The Supreme Court ruled against Alito's position in a plurality decision, in which five justices ruled that a spousal notification requirement violated the woman's rights. Rehnquist's dissent quoted Judge Alito and expressed support for his reasoning.
  • A majority opinion in Planned Parenthood of Central New Jersey v. Farmer, 220 F.3d 127 (3rd Cir. 2000), [18] in which Judge Alito recognized that a New Jersey law banning intact dilation and extraction (commonly called "partial-birth abortion") was unconstititional in light of the then recent Supreme Court case of Stenberg v. Carhart, 530 U.S. 914, 120 S.Ct. 2597, 147 L.Ed.2d 743 (2000), which struck down a nearly identical law in Nebraska.
  • In 1995, voted to strike down an abortion restriction in a Pennsylvania law that required women seeking to use Medicaid funds to abort a pregnancy resulting from rape or incest to report the incident to law enforcement officials and identify the offender.
  • Ruled the Constitution does not afford protection to the unborn in a 1997 challenge to a New Jersey law that prevents parents from suing for damages on behalf of the wrongful death of a fetus.
 

N8 v2.0

Not the sharpest tool in the shed
Oct 18, 2002
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The best thing about these hearings is seeing the democrats on the panel make total jackasses out of themselves....

See Teddy Kennedy, Biden, et al...

The dem's presidential chances on '08 are getting dimmer and dimmer...


:p:p:p
 

Tenchiro

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Jul 19, 2002
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From what I have read Alito seems like a pretty straightforward choice. I don't understand why anyone on either side would really object...
 

ohio

The Fresno Kid
Nov 26, 2001
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Tenchiro said:
From what I have read Alito seems like a pretty straightforward choice. I don't understand why anyone on either side would really object...
The potential for him to overturn Roe v Wade.
 

Tenchiro

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Jul 19, 2002
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ohio said:
The potential for him to overturn Roe v Wade.
The cases involving abortion (that I could find) that he has ruled in seemed to make it clear that he does support the right to abortion. All are more recent than the memo that everyone is freaking out about.

Old Man G Funk said:
I've already listed some objections.

My complaints are that he doesn't seem to understand the First Amendment and separation of church and state, and he will certainly do all he can to oppose abortion rights. I believe that he also stands for increased powers of the executive (who cares if they illegally wiretap?)
Again from the case history that I have seen, he seems to support First Ammendment rights.

I didn't see anything on his opinions of the latest wiretapping fiasco.
 

Old Man G Funk

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Old Man G Funk

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N8 said:
You've got NOTHING!


:p
The first bits of the hearings have mostly consisted of the Reps. spoon-feeding Alito the "correct" answers. It was only yesterday that these things started to come out. I hope that the Dems. will keep pressing, but they probably won't.

Of course, the Rep. group that recently came out against Alito has Arlen Spectre as a member....
 

N8 v2.0

Not the sharpest tool in the shed
Oct 18, 2002
11,003
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The Cleft of Venus
Old Man G Funk said:
The first bits of the hearings have mostly consisted of the Reps. spoon-feeding Alito the "correct" answers. It was only yesterday that these things started to come out. I hope that the Dems. will keep pressing, but they probably won't.

Of course, the Rep. group that recently came out against Alito has Arlen Spectre as a member....

But Enough About You, Judge; Let's Hear What I Have to Say
NY Times | ELISABETH BUMILLER

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 - The Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. were supposed to be about the judge, but on Tuesday it sometimes seemed as though somebody forgot to tell the senators on the Judiciary Committee.

The lure of 50 cameras and the captive audience in the Senate Hart Office Building appeared too much of a temptation for some of Capitol Hill's windiest lions, who began by promising not to run a marathon session of questions, then did so anyway.

At one point Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, was even granted two extra minutes from the committee's chairman, Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania - drawing groans from colleagues, among them Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York.

"Be quiet over there," Mr. Kennedy admonished his fellow committee members, to laughter. "Scurrilous dogs."

The highest ratio of words per panelist to words per nominee was that of Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democrat of Delaware, who managed to ask five questions in his 30-minute time allotment.

"I understand, Judge, I am the only one standing between you and lunch, so I'll try to make this painless," he began, with some promise.

Mr. Biden then dived into a soliloquy on Judge Alito's failure to recuse himself from cases involving the Vanguard mutual fund company, which managed the judge's investments. After 2 minutes 50 seconds - short for the senator - Mr. Biden did appear to veer toward a question, but abandoned it to cite Judge Alito's membership in a conservative Princeton alumni group. Mr. Biden discoursed on that for a moment, then interrupted himself with an aside about his son who "ended up going to that other university, the University of Pennsylvania."

Judge Alito, who had been sitting without expression through Mr. Biden's musings, interrupted the senator midword, got out three sentences, then settled in for nearly 26 minutes more of Mr. Biden, with the senator doing most of the talking. With less than a minute to spare, Mr. Biden concluded, thanked Judge Alito for "being responsive," then said to Mr. Specter that "I want to note that for maybe the first time in history, Biden is 40 seconds under his time."

The audience laughed appreciatively.

While most of the senators were at least as verbose as they were at the September confirmation hearings of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., the crispest was the chairman, Mr. Specter, who dispensed with an introduction on Tuesday and was immediately out of the gate with a question about abortion.

"Judge Alito, do you accept the legal principles articulated in Griswold vs. Connecticut that the liberty clause in the Constitution carries with it the right to privacy?" Mr. Specter asked.

Judge Alito, as Chief Justice Roberts had before him, said that he did, indicating that he at least did not rule out the pivotal legal underpinning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that legalized abortion.

Mr. Specter then moved into the same line of questioning he had used for the chief justice, even displaying the same chart that listed the 38 Supreme Court cases since Roe that affirmed the right to abortion.

Like almost everything else, the chart created an opportunity for more words from members of the committee. As an aide held the chart up behind Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, who opposes abortion rights, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, who supports them, was moved to crack, "Just balance that on Orrin's head."

Mr. Specter, who also supports abortion rights, chimed in, "It's a good photo-op for Senator Hatch."

Mr. Hatch, grinning, would have none of it. "He wants that over by Leahy," he said.

Mr. Hatch was Judge Alito's friendliest inquisitor, and often seemed like a concerned defense lawyer lobbing softballs to his client.

"So let me just ask you directly, on the record, Are you against women and minorities attending colleges?" Mr. Hatch asked.

"Absolutely not, Senator, no," Judge Alito replied.

Mr. Specter interjected, chuckling, "A tough question, Orrin, a tough question."

Mr. Hatch shot back, "It's a good question, though."

The most indignant questioner was Mr. Leahy, who went on a ramble through his own Irish and Italian roots and compared the discrimination that his parents and grandparents faced with the hard-luck story of Judge Alito's father, who came to the United States from Italy as an infant, grew up in poverty and had a difficult time getting a teaching job.

Given that history, Mr. Leahy said, he was particularly troubled that Judge Alito would have joined the conservative college group, Concerned Alumni of Princeton University, which resisted the admission of women and members of minorities.

"Why in heaven's name, Judge, with your background and what your father faced, why in heaven's name were you proud of being part of C.A.P.?" Mr. Leahy asked.

Judge Alito, who acknowledged having listed the group on a 1985 job application, responded, "I have racked my memory about this issue, and I really have no specific recollection of that organization."

The judge's toughest questioner was Mr. Schumer, who late in the day bored in with follow-up after follow-up about whether Judge Alito thought that the Constitution protected the right to abortion. In 1985, Judge Alito - then applying for a position in the Justice Department - contended that the Constitution did not guarantee such a right.

But on Tuesday, Judge Alito repeatedly refused to say what he now thought of the issue, exasperating Mr. Schumer.

"I do have to tell you, Judge, your refusal I find troubling," he said, likening the side-stepping to the response that might have been given by a friend who had told him 20 years earlier, "You know, I really can't stand my mother-in-law.'

Mr. Schumer spun out the rest of the hypothetical: "And a few weeks ago, I saw him and I said, 'You still hate your mother-in-law?' He said, 'Well, I'm now married to her daughter for 21 years, not one year.' I said, 'No, no, no, do you still hate your mother-in-law?' And he said, 'Mmm, can't really comment.' "

Mr. Schumer paused. "What do you think I'd think?" he asked the nominee.

The barest of smiles crossed Judge Alito's face. "Senator, I think --"

Mr. Schumer, in the theme of the day, cut him off. "Let me just move on," he said. Mr. Schumer seemed to notice that Judge Alito's mother-in-law was in the hearing room.

"I have not changed my mother-in-law," Judge Alito offered.

As always, the senator had the last word. "I'm glad you haven't, because she seems nice," Mr. Schumer said.
 

Old Man G Funk

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Nov 21, 2005
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N8 said:
But Enough About You, Judge; Let's Hear What I Have to Say
NY Times | ELISABETH BUMILLER

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 - The Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. were supposed to be about the judge, but on Tuesday it sometimes seemed as though somebody forgot to tell the senators on the Judiciary Committee.....
That's part of the strategy...to wear him down with boredom, then strike while his defenses are down.
 

Old Man G Funk

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Tenchiro said:
But his case history shows that he supports abortion rights.
That's one way to spin it.

He wanted to uphold the statute that a woman had to inform her husband before getting an abortion for one thing. Some others, he ruled in the most restrictive way he could, while following Supreme Court precedence, and still got rebuked multiple times by Justice O'Connor.
 

Old Man G Funk

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sanjuro said:
Presidential Power Has Limits, Alito Tells Senators
By DAVID STOUT
WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 - Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. said today that he wholeheartedly agreed with the principle that a president does not have "a blank check" in terms of power, especially during wartime.

"The Constitution applies in times of peace and war," President Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court said in the first round of questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The Bill of Rights applies at all times."

In the second day of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee on his nomination to the United States Supreme Court, Judge Alito said, preservation of individual rights is particularly important in wartime because that is when the temptation to abuse liberties in the name of national security is most dangerous.
Seems I'm not the only one concerned with this...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/13/AR2006011301731.html