What are the chances that Alito has acted unethically/illegally?

[ozymandius]

John Kerry stated in his recent email and Kos post that his efforts to mount a filibuster are not a-la "Mr. Smith goes to Washington". But even in that movie - the Mr. Smith's filibuster only served to gain time and "the goods" on his adversary's illegal and unethical acts.

Judge Alito's reptilian attitudes toward those who are the most vulnerable and, traditionally, the most frequent targets of descrimination are well documented. The glare from these points is startling in that his nomination was not derailed in committee.

There's paper trail a-plenty on Alito. We know that he ruled in the interest of Vanguard investments when he was a shareholder in that company. Is that all?

What else is known about him - bona fide evidence of his unfitness to the court due to legal and ethical lapses?

[mmonk]

1. The ABA saying he was fit

means there aren't any ethical breeches. Though the republicans like to say that is an endorsement, it just means he's clean in that area.

[H2O Man]

2. That's right.

The reason that Alito is unfit for the Supreme Court is not because there is a hidden issue involving an ethical breech .... it is because of his very well-documented history of promoting opinions that fly in the face of the Constitution.

[Wordie]

3. Yes. The ABA's rating is on "judicial temperament" as well, but that's

not the issue with Judge Alito, who clearly is a personable guy. It's his extremist views that are the problem. As Kerry pointed out very well in his speech yesterday, there are far larger concerns with Judge Alito. (Oh how I wish msm was reporting on the content of that speech, instead of the horse race of the filibuster itself.)

[ozymandius]

4. "This a serious ethical issue."

EXCLUSIVE: List of Alito “Murder Board” Participants; Includes Lawyers Who Approved Warrantless Surveillance

Miers personally approved Bush’s warrantless domestic surveillance program as White House Counsel. The evidence suggests that Powell is also a strong proponent of the program. In July, before Bush’s illegal warrantless wiretapping program was revealed by the New York Times, Powell testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to indicate that he wanted to expand the rules that limited intelligence agencies’ authorities to collect and share intelligence about U.S. citizens.

Bush’s warrantless surveillance program may soon come before the Supreme Court. Now we have key lawyers who created legal justifications for the program, such as Powell and White House counsel Harriet Miers, suggesting to Alito how he should respond to senators who ask questions about it. It is hard to imagine that these recommendations were not highly suggestive of how he should adjudicate the issue.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/12/alito-murder-board/

While unethical is not always illegal - ethical lapses can contribute to the commission of an illegal act.

[boobooday]

5. It's his attitude towards democracy that's objectionable

He hates it, apparently, and wants to live in a dictatorship. They ARE hiding some of his writings, which must be really heinous, because the ones they've released are scary enough.

[BuyingThyme]

6. He lied under oath about his membership in a hate group.

No 35-year-old has ever listed a hate group on a Justice Department job application without knowing exactly what he was doing. And no 35-year-old would ever forget doing such a thing.

[mmonk]

7. I agree

but the ABA wouldn't have that in their findings involving being fit.

[BuyingThyme]

11. Neither would the NBA.

[converted_democrat]

9. I agree..

Here is my question.. He says he does not remember being a member of CAP, but he was a member for like 14 years or so.. If I remember correctly it was a group with an annual membership fee, so I wonder if someone could get the receipts, or canceled checks for paying his dues??

Be hard to deny, and hard to sweep under the rug, if we could get that info.. If he wrote out 14 different checks, on 14 separate occasions to cover his fees, be kind of hard for him to deny it.. I don't think most Americans would want a racist on the Supreme Court..Also, if we could find pics of him at a CAP function, that would be fantastic. I wonder if there are any pics to be found?

[ozymandius]

8. Alito recusal concerns

Yet Alito made no mention of a timeframe in the 1990 questionnaire he submitted to the Senate during his confirmation, in which he made the unqualified promise to recuse himself from all cases involving companies tied to his "financial interests," such as Vanguard and Smith Barney:

As The Washington Post reported on November 1, 2005, Alito appeared to have violated his pledge in 2002 by participating in a case involving the Vanguard Group in which Shantee Maharaj, widow of a holder of Vanguard funds, charged, according to the Post, "that the company had improperly seized some private accounts and blocked the owner's widow from obtaining the funds they contained." Sitting on a three-judge panel, Alito ruled in favor of Vanguard, and the complaint was dismissed. After Maharaj complained that Alito's participation in the decision was unlawful, Alito's decision was withdrawn by Anthony Joseph Scirica, the chief administrative judge for the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Alito also had ruled on a 1996 case involving Smith Barney, as the Post noted on November 10, 2005.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200601040008

[Totally Committed]

10. With this current administration,

the fact he has acted 'unethically/illegally' was probably a line on his resume! This whole governement acts unethically/illegally every day. He's one of them. They are rallying behind him for that reason. He's a Right Wing hero. No paper-trail, no evidence will change that.

TC

[Blue Belle]

12. The bona fide evidence as gone the way of Bush's Service Records...

I'm sure any juicy unflattering dirt has been "Disappeared".