NYT: Alito May Be Decisive in Marquee Cases (Kennedy now Ct.'s "fulcrum")

[DeepModem Mom]

Alito Vote May Be Decisive in Marquee Cases This Term
By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: February 1, 2006


WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 — Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. will have only one vote, of course, but it may be the decisive one in several of the marquee cases that will dominate the balance of the Supreme Court's term.

By the end of the term in early summer, legal analysts said, the nation will most likely have a good sense of whether Justice Alito will affirm or veer away from the direction set by his predecessor, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, in cases involving the treatment of terror suspects and campaign finance. Justice Alito was confirmed Tuesday by a 58-to-42 vote in the Senate.

A first taste of how his legal views on abortion, a signature issue for Justice O'Connor, may differ from hers could come before the end of the year. And other issues on which Justice O'Connor was often the swing vote, including affirmative action and religion, are certain to reach the court in coming years....

***

In other cases, though, Justice Alito's votes will probably have only a limited impact. He is expected to join the three justices considered conservative — Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas — to form a voting bloc of four. Balancing that is a four-member liberal bloc made up of Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer.

That leaves Justice Anthony M. Kennedy as the court's new fulcrum....


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/01/politics/politicsspecial1/01legal.html

[Atman]

1. Was this a typo?

"By the end of the term in early summer, "

Do they mean "By the end of the week in early morning?"

Anybody who pretends they don't know how Alito will rule hasn't taken his lips off of Bush's choad long enough pay attention.

[Straight Shooter]

2. You don't need a crystal ball to predict his position on torture.

As for abortion, fasten your seat belts for the slippery slope to illegality which lies ahead.