The Senate Sanitarium

The Senate Judiciary Committe voted today along party lines (10 yeas, 8 nays) to send Samuel Alito's nomination to be Associate Justice to the floor. This called for a C-SPAN fix!

Sen. Leahy (D-VT) did a pretty good job of stating his case: his tone was that Alito defers too much to the executive branch of gov't....Alito earned his stripes fighting for the Reagan administration, and while you can take a boy out of the country.....
Leahy's statement appears on his website here.

Sen. Hatch (R-UT) did a pretty good job of explaining his vote, too, by repeating that Alito is well-qualified and has logical reasons for his rulings. Hatch referred to Ginsburg and Breyer as justices who were too dang liberal for his taste, but got his vote.

Sen. Biden, however, went over the edge (not the first time in these hearings), complaining about how Alito refuses to punish police officers for searching a 10 year-old girl... I haven't gone back to check the transcripts, but I remember Alito's answers relating to that case being something like this: if I stopped the police from searching kids in a crime scene, then I'd be sending a message to criminals that exploiting kids as messengers or drug-runners is okay, and that would be worse for kids. Posner would be proud; Alito here looks at the consequences of his decisions, and I've got to respect that.

I didn't get to hear all of the senators' statements, but I get the feeling that these votes weren't cast with the American public (or the future of confirmation hearings) in mind (oh, how naive you must be, G. Spinach!).

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Josh Marshall, who writes the Talking Points Memo, had this post up today arguing against a Hillary Clinton run for President in 2008. I agree wholeheartedly. FLOTUS #42 has too much history as an insider (Whitewater hasn't faded from memory yet), and as much as I'd like to see a woman president, I'd vote Liddy Dole over Hillary most days of the week.

My eyes are on Bill Richardson. He's got the foreign policy background and the populist stance to make a go of it. We shall see; we shall see.

One-ten. One-ten. Do I hear One-eleven?

I've been quiet for about a week, lurking around some, but mostly watching too much of the Barrett-Jackson car auction. Hypnotic stuff, though I couldn't afford much more than this '53 Beetle. What this thing needs is some racing stripes, and a Lindsey Lohan endorsement!

Readers of this blog also know that I'm a regular viewer of Underneath Their Robes. Howard Bashman over at How Appealing has a note directing his readers to this NY Times article with an interview with the creator of Article III Groupie. Slick blog success story, though I wouldn't have wanted to be in A3G's shoes when he/she was meeting his/her boss to discuss things after the "unveiling."

Anyhow, the Alito vote will be coming up in the Senate shortly, and I hope the Democrats don't make fools of themselves trying to oppose the confirmation. The left's best efforts should be put toward securing a majority vote in the Senate after the '06 midterms, and I don't see a leader from the Democratic side...Harry Reid was my guy until he went a little overboard on personal attacks and then backed up with this apology. IMHO, he just doesn't have his act together.

FLOTUS #42 (a/k/a Hillary R. Clinton) seems to be making waves, but I read "It Takes a Village" and it seemed too phony to be useful. We need another Democratic leader in the mold of Sam Nunn...if only Max Cleland were more of a household name in Des Moines (sigh!).

When Law and Politics Collide

Maybe law school corrupted me...I remember being awestruck with the knowledge and ability demonstrated by the senators and candidates during confirmation hearings in the past.

This week, however, I've recognized the names of about 2/3 of the cases cited by Judge Alito, and could have rewritten about half the questions from senators so people could actually understand them.

I'm ashamed of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Chairman Specter, Orrin Hatch, and Lindsey Graham spend more time talking about how Alito's critics are full of hoo-hah than they spend talking with the candidate before them...and Senator Kennedy isn't asking questions because he wants to know the answer.

Alito's not my kind of guy...he leans to the right, but I've decided that despite his personal politics, he's got a decent respect for judicial restraint, and is certainly capable of holding his own on the Court. I don't think I'll be watching any more of the hearing replays...put him on the Court and let Sandra Day O'Connor do what she asked to do more than seven months ago: retire.

Sam's Story

After 13 hours at the office, I came home to watch some C-SPAN reruns of the first day of Judge Samuel Alito's confirmation hearing, and look for some blog material. I wasn't disappointed.

I missed Senator Kennedy's reputed antics, but I did catch Senators Brownback and Coburn spin their single-issue stories, arguing that abortion is the only issue before the Court worth talking about (or basing one's vote on).

I fear that their laser-beam focus is sorely misplaced, as the Supreme Court hears hundreds of cases, each fraught with implications and lasting consequences. So many other important Constitutional issues come before the Court: First Amendment freedoms; Fourth Amendment protections from unreasonable searches; Fourteenth Amendment restrictions on state legislatures pushing the due process envelope. Bush 43 has claimed there is no litmus test, but if the Republican senators from Oklahoma and Kansas are any indication, it looks to be the sole criterion.

Judge Alito himself came across with little fanfare in his opening statement. Nothing surprised me, except perhaps his reference near the end of his speech that when he was sworn in as a Judge for the 3d Circuit Court of Appeals, that he "placed [his] hand on the Bible." Is that still done? Did he really do that? Isn't raising one's right hand enough? And how does that practice stand up against the current analysis required to review statues under the Establishment Clause? How about putting your hand on the tax code: equally mysterious, and nearly as authoritative.

Last but not least, props go out to Christine Todd Whitman (despite the '-R' after her name). Her words were clear, and her recommendations sound. She did a much better job than Sen. Lautenberg in introducing the candidate and persuading the Judiciary Committee to see and respect her position. If only the Senators were paying attention...

A fine day in Spinachland

It's a great day because the latest issue of The Green Bag arrived in the mailbox. I'm such a periodicals junkie!

Three quick highlights:

1) It reminded me to post the picture of the SCOTUS bobblehead collection slowly forming in my office (the googling monkey on the left is an unofficial "wobble-on" representing Chief Justice John Roberts until his bobblehead is professionally designed).

2) The poem by James Rosenbaum (at 9 Green Bag 2d 13) detailing the woes of the new 'pick-up-your-own-darn-doll' policy reminded me of my own special purpose road trip.

3) Vikram Amar and Alan Brownstein's article titled "Academic Freedom" cited a 1998 Colorado Supreme Court case against a high school English teacher of mine who (according to the court) crossed the line in bucking the school administration...the bummer of that whole thing was that the push to punish him had so little to do with his conduct with students, and so much more with his desire to inspire debate among his colleagues. A good man shot down without cause, IMHO. See 960 P.2d 695 (Colo. 1998) (sorry, free link unavailable).

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And I'm very glad to see the return of A3G and his/her blog: Underneath Their Robes.

Welcome back, Article III Groupie! While you were gone, you missed a SCOTUS rockslide. And we're sorry you'll be AWOL during Samuel Alito's confirmation hearings. You'll miss a good show.