President Bush congratulating Judge Alito at the White House yesterday upon his confirmation as the 110th Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court – by a Senate vote of 58-42.Yesterday, in a development that proved anti-climatic from the day President Bush won reelection over John F. Kerry in November 2004, the Senate confirmed conservative Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. And, he was promptly sworn in by the recently confirmed John Roberts – who now presides as the Chief Justice – in time for Alito to bask in the collegial glow of fellow Justices as they assumed their privileged perch last night for President Bush’s State of the Union Address (which, incidentally, was so predictable [with the exact same number of interruptions for canned applause as last year’s Address] and uninspired that it’s not worthy of commentary.)
Unfortunately, the national debate over Alito’s nomination was little more than a rehashing of the hackneyed partisan rhetoric that defined the divisive 2004 presidential election. And it reached its most unseemly and mean-spirited extreme during senate hearings when Democrats on the Judiciary Committee impugned Alito’s professional and personal reputation so unfairly that
they made his wife cry….In
this recent article – on the eve of those ill-fated hearings – I admonished Democrats (for the sake of their Party and the country) to “get over Alito!” Because, I argued, there’s no precedent in U.S jurisprudence for the proposition that the Constitution’s “advice and consent” clause grants them the power to veto the president’s Supreme Court nominees – based on their abortion litmus test.Yet, despite my admonition (complete with instructive references to the loyal execution of this advice and consent function by Republicans when Democratic President Bill Clinton nominated judges who were more liberal than Alito is conservative), the Democrats went ahead with their slime Alito agenda that made not only Mrs Alito but also millions of people around the nation sad. In fact, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Delaware) became so disgusted (one imagines as much because of his own shameful performance as that of his more rabid colleagues like Sen. Ted Kennedy) that he has called for judicial hearings to be abolished (i.e. let the president nominate, let the ABA rate yea or nay and be done with it!)
Note: I issued this frank admonition because I fear the Democrats are becoming so caught up in feckless partisan carping that they have lost sight of what issues demand their attention. For example, Senator Kennedy dominated news headlines on Monday for exclaiming hysterically – from the floor of the U.S. Senate – that nothing was more critical to the future of America than defeating Alito’s confirmation. And, in my article below on the World Economic Forum in Davos, I cite Bill Clinton’s fatuous claim that “Climate Change” is the most serious threat facing mankind today.
Meanwhile, the few properly focused members of the Democratic Party were left shouting in the media wilderness about the looming nuclear confrontation with Iran, the shocking victory of the Hamas group and what it portends for peace in the Middle East and the constitutionality of President Bush’s domestic spy programme….
Go figure!
Judge Samuel Alito, U.S. Supreme Court, Senate Judicial Hearings
Ravic says
ALH – what do you consider the most serious threat to the US and world peace for the next 50 years?
Some suggestions: nuclear proliferation, depletion of water resources, the end of our oil based economy, global warming, … terrorist attacks …
I’m 32 and need to prepare.
Anonymous says
I am fifty why bother!
Anonymous says
You are absolute right about the “carping” Democrats. The have forefieted all claims to power in this country as far as I’m concerned.