Democrats Ready to Go After Alito

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Democrats Ready to Go After Alito
High Court Nominee's Memos Opposing Abortion Likely to Be Focal Points at Hearings
Senate Democrats are expected to attack Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. on multiple fronts at the confirmation hearing that opens at noon today, but their strongest ammunition is likely to come from the nominee's own hand.

Alito wrote two memos in 1985 that rocked political circles when they were made public last November. In one, an application for a promotion in the Reagan administration, Alito wrote that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion." He said he was proud to fight for such causes in which "I personally believe very strongly," and he cited his membership in a conservative Princeton alumni group that has been widely criticized for opposing efforts to bring more women and minorities to that university.

The other memo outlined a strategy for attacking the landmark 1973 court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, asking: "What can be made of this opportunity to advance the goals of bringing about the eventual overruling of Roe v. Wade and, in the meantime, of mitigating its effects?" Alito and his supporters have sought to put some distance between him and the memos, and Republicans predict he will survive this week's grilling and be confirmed to succeed centrist Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a step that could shift the court notably to the right. But Judiciary Committee Democrats say they will press him to explain his writings, and they warn that peril may lie in his fully embracing them or trying to disavow them.

"He indicates in his job application his view about what the Constitution guarantees in terms of, for example, women and the issue on abortion," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), the committee's most senior member, said yesterday on ABC's "This Week." "We haven't had a statement like that since Robert Bork," the outspoken conservative who was rejected for a Supreme Court seat in 1987.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/08/AR2006010800794.html

[fooj]

1. Chew his ass, Democrats! Expose the rat bastard!

Peace.

[FreedomAngel82]

8. Yes

I think they're really going to kick his ass. :) Hopefully he won't make it like the other guy.

[AtomicKitten]

2. I think the Dems have done their homework.

Alito has some seriously troubling opinions and I'm glad he has a rather voluminous paper trail, certainly compared to Roberts.

Filibuster his ass!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

3. I've seen two TV debates on the appointment

In both cases the focus quickly moved to the topic of abortion, which unifies the religious right. Republicans can't afford to lose that Christian element in the mid-term elections. One debate even went into gun-control, another rallying cry of the right. I suspect ANY controversy over Alito will serve to curb the erosion of voters to our side that can no longer support an immoral and now obviously non-Christian totalitarian regime. Alito's appointment at this time allows media to unify a shaky constituency instead of focusing on high-pressure demands for bribes, an unpopular war and presidential misconduct.

[eve_was_framed]

4. abortion shouldn't be the only issue. This man has a major

credibility issue. Said he would recuse himself on cases which would be a conflict of interest and he didn't. To me that makes him a liar and unfit for the highest court in the land. Also anything he says in the hearings, will they be just lies or pandering to get through the "job interview" and into the job?

[Jeffersons Ghost]

5. exactly eve-was-framed

I hope Democrats can change the focus of debate but it didn't happen in the two news programs that I've seen on Alito. Critics sadly played right into a well-engineered right-wing strategy.

[eve_was_framed]

6. that's the same impression I was getting and I think it's a HUGE mistake

[AtomicKitten]

7. I agree.

In fact, focusing on abortion will prove counterproductive. He has MANY other issues as seriously twisted, and the Dems would be prudent to expose his entire repertoire of rightwing leanings.

[cascadiance]

9. Ask him for an opinion on "applicability" of states secret act...

Since after today, now there's been at least two cases where they've supported dismissing cases using it "without opinion" from the existing justices!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2031015&mesg_id=2031015