Preserve the Balance
Team Supreme Blog
Under The Lights
Click, click, click. The sound of reporters typing away at their laptops. That was the first thing I noticed, as I sat today in the cavernous Senate hearing room for the second day of hearings on the nomination of Judge Alito to the Supreme Court. Then came the other clicks—from the cameras of the photojournalists as Alito and the Senators took their seats.
Aside from the reporters, the cameras, and the klieg lights, observing the hearing first hand is remarkably similar to being at home or at the office. It’s a big room, with rows of tables for reporters between the audience and the dais. Alito’s balding pate is vaguely visible in the distance. The Senators are recognizable from their voices and their seating arrangement far more than actual visual recognition.
Fortunately, the television monitor is just a few feet away so the audience can see what’s going on.
In the few hours I was there this morning, there were no major revelations. For the most part, Senators did ask substantive questions, rather than pontificating. Listening carefully to Alito’s articulation of the legal principle of stare decisis (the principal that the previous decisions are to be followed by the courts) in regard to the legal precedents underlying Roe v. Wade and other privacy cases, his language is nearly identical to Justice Roberts’ in his confirmation hearings. I suppose the White House is following the principle that if it worked so well once, it will work well again.
Aside from the reporters, the cameras, and the klieg lights, observing the hearing first hand is remarkably similar to being at home or at the office. It’s a big room, with rows of tables for reporters between the audience and the dais. Alito’s balding pate is vaguely visible in the distance. The Senators are recognizable from their voices and their seating arrangement far more than actual visual recognition.
Fortunately, the television monitor is just a few feet away so the audience can see what’s going on.
In the few hours I was there this morning, there were no major revelations. For the most part, Senators did ask substantive questions, rather than pontificating. Listening carefully to Alito’s articulation of the legal principle of stare decisis (the principal that the previous decisions are to be followed by the courts) in regard to the legal precedents underlying Roe v. Wade and other privacy cases, his language is nearly identical to Justice Roberts’ in his confirmation hearings. I suppose the White House is following the principle that if it worked so well once, it will work well again.
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