Bush Nominates Alito For Supreme Court

Posted on October 31, 2005

Today, President Bush announced his next Supreme Court nomination, just days after Harriet Miers was forced to resign by the religious right.

According to a statement released by the White House this morning, Judge Alito was born in April 1950 in Trenton. He graduated from Princeton University in 1972, and went to Yale Law School, where he earned a J.D. in 1975. From 1977-1980, Judge Alito served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the appellate division, where he argued cases before the circuit court to which he was later appointed.
From 1981 to 1985, Judge Alito served as assistant to the solicitor general. He has argued 12 cases on behalf of the federal government in the United States Supreme Court and he has argued numerous others before the federal courts of appeals.
His career included serving as deputy assistant to the attorney general from 1985 to 1987. From 1987 to 1989, Judge Alito served as United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, where he prosecuted white collar and environmental crimes, drug trafficking, organized crime, and violations of civil rights, the White House said.

Here are some initial reactions to the pick:

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid: "I am disappointed in this choice for several reasons. First, unlike previous nominations, this one was not the product of consultation with Senate Democrats. . . . Second, this appointment ignores the value of diverse backgrounds and perspectives on the Supreme Court. The president has chosen a man to replace Sandra Day O'Connor, one of only two women on the court. For the third time, he has declined to make history by nominating the first Hispanic to the Court. And he has chosen yet another federal appellate judge to join a court that already has eight justices with that narrow background. President Bush would leave the Supreme Court looking less like America and more like an old boys club."

NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan: "Instead of unifying the country, President Bush has chosen the path of confrontation. Sandra Day O�Connor has been the court's swing Justice, casting the deciding votes over the years to protect women�s reproductive freedom. Alito's confirmation could shift the court in a direction that threatens to eviscerate the core protections for women's freedom guaranteed by Roe v. Wade, or overturn the landmark decision altogether."

Gary Bauer: "Today, President Bush made an exceptional selection for the United States Supreme Court with the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito. Judge Alito's integrity, experience and qualifications are beyond question ... He is a mainstream conservative who will uphold the best traditions of our nation's highest court."

Senator Sam Brownback (R): "I commend the president and congratulate Judge Alito on this nomination, and I look forward to the upcoming confirmation hearing, during which members of the Judiciary Committee will have a robust and, I hope, civil dialogue with the nominee about the meaning of the Constitution and the role of the courts in American life."

That pretty well sums it up, doesn't it? Gary Bauer thinks he's great and Harry Reid thinks he's a radical.

Judge Alito has left a substantial paper trail outlining his narrow view of the Constitution and the rights granted by it to the American people. Some of the highlights of his record include a) being the lone dissenter in Planned Parenthood vs. Casey, in which the Supreme Court ruled against the way Alito voted (to further restrict a woman's right to an abortion by requiring her to get her husband's permission, even in a domestic violence situation) and b) upholding the unauthorized strip search of a 10 year-old girl during the execution of a search warrant of her father's home.

Justice O'Connor was a fiscally conservative, socially moderate justice who helped keep the court in line with public opinion. These cases (which reportedly are just the tip of the iceberg of Alito's decisions) begin to paint a picture of not a moderate at all, but instead a radical anti-woman, anti-civil rights extreme conservative who delights in his nickname of "Scalito" or "Little Scalia."