Let the festivities begin!
Well, this should be interesting:
Alito, 55, is considered a conservative in the mold of Justice Antonin Scalia. Alito is sometimes given the nickname “Scalito” — a comparison to Scalia, who shares his Italian heritage as well as his reputation for conservatism and a strong intellect. He is a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.
Conservatives should be starting to bind their wounds and gear up for the coming battle with the Democrats that some of them so deeply desired. Liberals, no doubt, are hopping mad.
As a taxpayer and layman, I have to ask how often has he been overturned by the Supreme Court? How does his appeal record stand in relation to other federal judges? He has 15 years on the bench, is a former prosecutor, graduated in very good standing from a school of prestige, was unanimously voted in some 15 years ago and has argued roughly a dozen cases in front of the SC. One pontificating Senator (braying jackass) said he may be too radical for mainstream America. Oh yeah? In light of his qualifications, how often has a higher court ruled against his judgement(s)? The Senate will change the rules if it comes down to it and stop a filibuster. His record and qualifications need to be kept on the front burner at all times. To use the words of George Bush….bring it on
The confirmation of GWB’s latest nominee will be a difficult one. i could even see a filibuster here before it is over. Supreme Court nominations have become blatantly political and judicial activism is the goal of both sides although they do not like to admit it.
Im working out now neo-neo! Getting my abs in shape and toning them muscles!
Common you flabby freepers! you couch-laden conservatives! Lets put Arnold to shame!
…And one..and two…and…
“Conservatives should be starting to bind their wounds and gear up for the coming battle with the Democrats that some of them so deeply desired.”
What battle? This is already a done deal. The Democrats are unable to do much about Alito. They will simply go through the motions.
To the Republicans, Miers is the Woman Scorned.
To the Democrats, she’s The One Who Got Away.
Oh, I forgot to say: this whole Meirs thing was just a Rovian ploy to get y’all’s attention. A whack upside the head.
They never planned to send ol’ Harriet before the Judiciary Committee — they were just softening them up for the real action.
Worked, didn’t it? Not only is the conservative base breathing easier since W has come to his senses, but the Dems are pining for the justice they could’ve taken to heart (after they scourged her a bit). Ah, the bitterness…
Rove is such a clever dude.
Neo–
I feel like we’ve arrived! I know you have to duck leftie trolls all the time but their little icebergs just never seem to bump into our boat…until today. We got a nastygram mention in James Wolcott’s blog (whoever he is).
The Baron put up a post about it, but I really think we ought to send him one of our engraved monogrammed informals to say thank you.
OTOH, he’s so incredibly rude that I fear he wasn’t — as they say down here — Raised Right. Momma always told us never to say anything that smelled bad, but I do fear this man…well, he’s a tad odiferous…
Gosh, though, I feel included now. We never even get hate mail…see, in order to get hate mail, your interlocutor has to *care*…
I’m quite happy with this. I would rather not see a fight, but I would think that 20+ years of solid court decisions are worth one. Avoiding a fight by appointing judges who rule such as the Kelo case (the imminent domain) is sorta like not trying to piss the Tuberculosis bacteria off so you just let ‘er go without medication. Would rather not be in that position but it’s not my choice.
My top two choices were Alito or Brown, still would have rather seen Brown but this is quite good.
As of right now enough of the “Gang of 14” have said that Alito will get their vote for the nuclear option that it has over 50 votes.
Again, I would rather not see it as I think the nuclear option has nearly as much abuse potential as the current filibuster, but it’s still better than what we have (best was the original filibuster – but unfortunatly no one seems to want to bring that back).
dragonflies:
I don’t think that Bush handed the left a tool with Miers. I think he let the Republicans in the Senate know what kind of candidate they can expect if they are not willing to fight a filibuster.
I think Miers might well have been a good justice, [we will never know], but the extreme nastiness exhibited by the right was not only not necessary it makes the whole process more difficult.
Bush didn’t win with Miers, but neither did the Democrats.
So the question now is, whose morale and fighting capacity is higher, the rested Democrats, or the gung-ho and mobilized Republicans?
Ironically, Democrats hate democracy.
And as such, they need a court system that is willing to make law based on the judge’s personal beliefs rather than the actual words of the Constitution. No need to adhere to the social contract when you have a philosopher-king to rule.
That was why O’Conner was great. She just made up whatever rule fit her world view.
We can’t have little things like Separation of Powers standing in their way. Not when the population is comprised of “ignorant, redneck, bigots.”
Based on some quick reads of some of his legal decisions that some of the other blogs have put up, he sounds like an outstanding choice…a real heavyweight. Good for W! The stealth approach didn’t work and, in comparason to what Judge Alito brings to the table, it was probably the best thing that Ms. Meirs withdrew.
Obviously, the Dems will fillibuster to stop him. But, will the gang of 14 let them? Bush handed the left the tool to destroy him when he offered up Miers which resulted in the right wing intelligencia forcing her withdrawal. Now the left can claim that the next nominee is a right wing extremist to satify the right wing extremist wing of the Reps.
I think it is up to McCain. If he goes along with the Alito is an extremist meme, the filibuster stands. If he wants to end the filibuster, it will be defeated. McCain and the gang of 14 are running this show now, it seems to me.
Hooray!
I hereby take back all of the mean and nasty things I said and thought about GW. 🙂