Never be afraid to stand with the minority when the minority is right, for the minority which is right will one day be the majority. - William Jennings Bryan

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Scalito



This morning around 7:30, I awoke to reports that the President would appoint Circuit Court Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. Reports were correct. George W. Bush nominated a far-right conservative in Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, to replace a mainstream moderate, Sandra Day O'Connor.

Harriet Miers is looking better and better.

I can't say for 100% sure that I'll oppose the Alito nomination. But some things worry me.

1-His record on womens' rights (Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 1991)
2-His record on race-based/disability-based discrimination (Bray v. Marriott Hotels, 1997; Chittister v. Department of Community and Economic Development, 2000)
3-If his nickname is Scalito, indicating "Scalia Jr." some red lights should go off somewhere.
4-The one that really bothers me--His record on unauthorized strip searches (Doe v. Groody, 2004) (Read up on this one, folks)

I'm interested in how potential 2008 Presidential candidates (i.e. Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Evan Bayh) will handle this one. I know how George Allen and friends will handle it; they'll hail it as Scalia's second coming (he resembles Scalia a tad bit).

Unless the hearing prove that he is a mainstream jurist like John G. Roberts is, then I will have no other choice than to oppose Samuel Alito. But I will wait until the hearings to see what he has to say.

-Neal

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

did you see the Critics article on the front page of todays Post? I thought it was amusing that Alito ruled that since there was no "intent" to discriminate, the hotel was not at fault for its discrimnatory actions. also, he said he didnt think that the employers should have to pay for the trial.

Seems like the typical wasp to me.

Anonymous said...

Alito scares me

Neal said...

You sure aren't the only one...