Preserve the Balance
Team Supreme Blog
Act One: Setting the Scene
There was not much news made in the first day of the Alito hearings. While the opening statements were not quite Kabuki theater, the Senators and Judge Alito all knew their roles and followed the script. After all, the first day of hearings is always about posturing rather than substance.
Each of the Democratic Senators raised concerns about Judge Alito’s record as a federal appeals court judge, as a government lawyer working for the Reagan Administration in the 1980s, and his publicly stated beliefs. Some questioned his views of executive power, particularly in light of the National Security Agency warrantless spying on American citizens. Some contrasted Alito’s expansive view of federal executive power with concerns about his decisions that indicate a limited view of Congressional power. The upcoming questions on this will be crucial since the power to enact employment non-discrimination legislation to protect the GLBT community is dependent on the authority of Congress.
Republicans focused on Alito’s qualifications for the job. With the many mentions of the American Bar Association’s rating, you’d think Senators forgot about the Bush Administration’s attempts to sideline the ABA.
Of course, as we moved down the Republican seniority list, social issues jumped to the top of the agenda. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) blamed “liberal interest groups” who want to “impose their liberal agenda on the American people…they want judges who will find traditional marriage limited to one man and one woman unconstitutional.”
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) focused almost exclusively on overturning the Roe v. Wade decision, arguing that the hearings were really about whether we allow abortion to be legal in the United States. He did manage to throw in a line about legal sodomy too.
Following introductory remarks from Senator Lautenberg and former Governor and EPA Administrator Whitman, which consisted of paeans to New Jersey, Judge Alito got his chance. He wants you to know that he’s a humble guy, from a humble background, from humble New Jersey. He went to Princeton and Yale Law School, but he’s not elitist.
It’s a "just-your-average-guy" kind of image he's attempting to get across, but I wonder how many times he rehearsed?
Each of the Democratic Senators raised concerns about Judge Alito’s record as a federal appeals court judge, as a government lawyer working for the Reagan Administration in the 1980s, and his publicly stated beliefs. Some questioned his views of executive power, particularly in light of the National Security Agency warrantless spying on American citizens. Some contrasted Alito’s expansive view of federal executive power with concerns about his decisions that indicate a limited view of Congressional power. The upcoming questions on this will be crucial since the power to enact employment non-discrimination legislation to protect the GLBT community is dependent on the authority of Congress.
Republicans focused on Alito’s qualifications for the job. With the many mentions of the American Bar Association’s rating, you’d think Senators forgot about the Bush Administration’s attempts to sideline the ABA.
Of course, as we moved down the Republican seniority list, social issues jumped to the top of the agenda. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) blamed “liberal interest groups” who want to “impose their liberal agenda on the American people…they want judges who will find traditional marriage limited to one man and one woman unconstitutional.”
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) focused almost exclusively on overturning the Roe v. Wade decision, arguing that the hearings were really about whether we allow abortion to be legal in the United States. He did manage to throw in a line about legal sodomy too.
Following introductory remarks from Senator Lautenberg and former Governor and EPA Administrator Whitman, which consisted of paeans to New Jersey, Judge Alito got his chance. He wants you to know that he’s a humble guy, from a humble background, from humble New Jersey. He went to Princeton and Yale Law School, but he’s not elitist.
It’s a "just-your-average-guy" kind of image he's attempting to get across, but I wonder how many times he rehearsed?
Comments
.