Alito: Hour 1 Day 2
| By brandonmcb - Jan 10th, 2006 at 2:26 pm EST |
| Also listed in: AlitoBlog | Campus Progress Blog |
About an hour into the second day of Alito hearings I became quite concerned that Orrin Hatch was going to propose to Judge Alito. This is an obvious problem because Senator Hatch is seriously opposed to same sex marriage.
It's no surprise to see Hatch lobbing soft balls to the nominee and singing his praises. I can't begin to understand why Alito's feelings on his stint in the military would be important to these hearings but Hatch made sure to ask. The distinguished gentleman from Utah, it appears, isn't quite as concerned with judicial rulings as he is more concerned with Alito's happiness. A very touching sentiment from the man who supposedly represents me, a Utahan, in the senate.
The opening speaker, Chairman Arlen Specter was a bit more critical of the judge especially on the case of abortion. Sen. Specter went down a line of questioning focusing on Alito's comments in 1985 stating that abortion rights are not covered in the constitution citing Planned Parenthood v. Casey and Roe v. Wade. The only real statement Alito gave on whether or not he would turn precedent around on abortion and whether his mind has changed since 1985 was that he would approach the case with an "open mind". One would hope that a man who has been a judge for 15 years has figured out that judges should go into things with an open mind.
It appears the hearings will go just as one could have predicted, mirroring the Roberts hearings. Liberals will ask critical important questions which Alito will dodge with vague answers and repetitive rhetoric. Hard line conservatives will make Alito out to be one of the greatest men ever, rambling on about how Alito has moral fiber that goes above and beyond any person's wildest imagination, and asking questions that don't tell us anything about Alito as a judge but rather make him seem to be, to take an Alito quote completely out of context, a "super duper" judge that will save America from impending moral doom.
It's no surprise to see Hatch lobbing soft balls to the nominee and singing his praises. I can't begin to understand why Alito's feelings on his stint in the military would be important to these hearings but Hatch made sure to ask. The distinguished gentleman from Utah, it appears, isn't quite as concerned with judicial rulings as he is more concerned with Alito's happiness. A very touching sentiment from the man who supposedly represents me, a Utahan, in the senate.
The opening speaker, Chairman Arlen Specter was a bit more critical of the judge especially on the case of abortion. Sen. Specter went down a line of questioning focusing on Alito's comments in 1985 stating that abortion rights are not covered in the constitution citing Planned Parenthood v. Casey and Roe v. Wade. The only real statement Alito gave on whether or not he would turn precedent around on abortion and whether his mind has changed since 1985 was that he would approach the case with an "open mind". One would hope that a man who has been a judge for 15 years has figured out that judges should go into things with an open mind.
It appears the hearings will go just as one could have predicted, mirroring the Roberts hearings. Liberals will ask critical important questions which Alito will dodge with vague answers and repetitive rhetoric. Hard line conservatives will make Alito out to be one of the greatest men ever, rambling on about how Alito has moral fiber that goes above and beyond any person's wildest imagination, and asking questions that don't tell us anything about Alito as a judge but rather make him seem to be, to take an Alito quote completely out of context, a "super duper" judge that will save America from impending moral doom.
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What he unfortunately didn't get into (and all the senators ignored) is that CAP never supported keeping women out of Princeton. All they supported was keeping the number of males the same and not decreasing the numbers they would already have accepted based purely on the numbers. This would mean increasing the size of the student body as they expanded co-educationally. It would not mean using affirmative action for white males, as the Democrats have been unfairly trying to present this group.