until Bush can be investigated for criminal wrongdoing!As this is a very long article (good read, though), I'm posting the most interesting section of the article first. This is a great idea!
They are suggesting that the nomination of Alito, and any other SCOTUS nomination, simply be deferred until a criminal investigation of Bush is completed!We insist, as the Senate Judiciary Committee's (Republican) Chair originally suggested, that the confirmation process of a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court be deferred until a criminal investigation is completed on President Bush. Only if and when the President is cleared of any and all criminal actions can the people feel confident in his choice(s) for the U.S. Supreme Court.Oregon VRC Joins Coalition in Opposing the Nomination of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court
Submitted by irreverent on Thu, 01/19/2006 - 2:00pm.
OREGON VRC OPPOSES THE
NOMINATION OF JUDGE SAMUEL ALITO
TO THE U.S. SUPREME COURT
Unchecked Presidential Power Destroys Democracy
January 18, 2006
For immediate release:
(Download PDF copy)
In a democratic republican form of government such as ours, where the people place the political power in the hands of their representatives, voting is the only legitimate way to transfer power from the people to the government. Having a secure, transparent, and verifiably accurate election system for all American citizens is therefore the cornerstone of our government and our society. Ensuring and maintaining the strong checks and balances between our three equal branches of government as set forth in our Constitution is also a cornerstone of our democratic republic. These checks and balances are also an essential foundation for ensuring the legitimate transfer of political power from the people to the government through secure, transparent, and verifiably accurate elections. Furthermore, if an Executive Branch of government knowingly comes into power through fraudulent elections, it is acting in defiance of the people’s will and is not operating under any legitimate transfer of power from the people.
If the Executive Branch of government attempts to brazenly anoint the President with plenary power and exerts power to diminish or remove the roles of Congress and the Judiciary, such as is currently the case, then it is acting in flagrant defiance of our Constitution. Furthermore, if the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress grant the President plenary power, if even by passive assent, then the results of any verified election can and will eventually be replaced with the plenary President's choices or methods of election. Hence, the legitimate transfer of political power from the people to the government is seriously threatened under a President with plenary power over Congress and the Judiciary.
Judge Samuel Alito has made it clear that he embraces the notion of “unitary powers of the executive” during wartime. A more accurate term for the notion of “unitary powers” would be “unilateral powers” of the executive. These presumed powers of the President go well beyond the constitutional checks and balances of Congress, the Judiciary, or our laws. The concept of “unitary powers” is therefore egregiously contrary to the intentions of our Founding Fathers and our Constitution.
In his testimony before the recent Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on the nomination of Judge Alito, Erwin Chemerinsky, an Alston & Bird Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science at Duke Law, stated, "In light of his entire career before going to the bench, being in the executive branch, in light of his writings when he was in the solicitor general's office, the speeches that he's given, the opinions he's written on the third circuit, I don't find anything to indicate that he will be enforcing checks and balances."
In his testimony to the Committee, Laurence H. Tribe, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University, stated, "It is very clear that, with respect to the unitary executive theory that is being espoused, that what you saw in the instance of Judge Alito's testimony was not a forthright description of what he said he believed. …So he was speaking to the decision makers who would perhaps decide – he was already discussed as a possible nominee to the Supreme Court – who would decide whether he would remain on the third circuit. And he was saying to that group, ‘I still believe what we were arguing back in 1986 at OLC .’ He talks about the gospel according to OLC. He says, ‘I still believe in that gospel.’ He's speaking as a judge. And he says, ‘Under that gospel we have a way of getting the president more power.’ I cannot imagine more direct evidence of where he would come out. …In theory, it could take over the conduct of all of the agencies, because there are only three branches of government and they belong in the executive."
Such a concentration of government power into one branch of government or one person is also contrary to the guarantee of legitimate elections and, subsequently, the very survival of our democratic republic would be in peril.
Because Judge Alito has professed support for the notion of “unitary powers of the executive” and advocates a limited role of the Judiciary in checking that power, the nonpartisan Oregon Voter Rights Coalition considers his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court by the President of the United States to be alarming. Indeed, it is especially alarming at a time such as now when President George W. Bush is not only acting in open defiance of the Constitution and of our laws, but in fact shows outright contempt for the rule of law and for the constitutional checks and balances that are essential to our democratic republic. It is therefore imperative that Congress defeats the confirmation of Judge Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Oregon VRC joins with numerous other organizations in Oregon and across the nation in urging all U.S. Senators to oppose Judge Alito’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Further, many clouds currently surround President Bush and the Executive Branch relating to the legal and constitutional authority by which they claim to have for several questionable actions and policies. The Oregon VRC therefore questions the wisdom of the U.S. Senate considering any candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court nominated by President Bush at this time. We insist, as the Senate Judiciary Committee's (Republican) Chair originally suggested, that the confirmation process of a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court be deferred until a criminal investigation is completed on President Bush. Only if and when the President is cleared of any and all criminal actions can the people feel confident in his choice(s) for the U.S. Supreme Court.
http://www.oregonvrc.org/2006/01/oregon_vrc_joins_coalition_in_opposing_the_nomination_of_samuel_alito_to_the_u_s_supreme_court?PHPSESSID=95f32a1bd68241f6338944e56b1d98ad
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