The Cup O' Joe Report: Monday, January 9, 2006 - Alito

[Joeve]

This is a transcript of Joe Vecchio's daily "Cup O' Joe Report" podcast, availaible here.

The confirmation hearings on Judge Alito begin today, and whether he will actually become a Supreme Court Justice remains to be seen. The battle to oppose him is just one front in a larger war that has been raging for the last thirty years, but it's an important one: Judges such as Alito, who have been appointed by the President, share his belief in the idea of an Imperial Presidency. Mr. Bush has already gone on record as saying that if he feels it necessary to break the law in order to win "the war on terror" he will do so. This is no theory, he has already broken the law on several fronts, not just American law but international law as well.

When the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution they were trying to create a system whereby power would be distributed throughout the government, because they knew from experience what happens when too much power falls into too few hands. The power of the President has risen and fallen over our two-hundred year history, but it seems to this observer that the balance the Constitution provides for is in serious jeopardy. Should Judge Alito become a Supreme Court Justice, he will almost certainly rule in favor of more Presidential power, especially if it's a President with whom he shares a radical, ideological agenda.

I hope the Democrats in Congress will have the courage to fight this appointment, because Supreme Court Justice Alito would be a bad thing for the whole country, Democrats and Republicans alike. When we place one person or one group of people above the law we have less control of our own lives and freedoms, and that goes against every principle this nation was founded on.

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