Saturday, January 14, 2006

On Alito

The veteran feels the need to weigh in on the paradigm that is Sam Alito (affectionately referred to by my more lefty buddies as 'Scalito'). There are several points that make the veteran distrust this candidate for the Supreme Court. First of all, his record of opinions (which has been analyzed by both Harvard and Annenberg) strongly suggests a pro-business bias detrimental to individual litigants. While the veteran readily acknowledges the need for corporate entities and their vital role in our capitalistic hodge-podge, it seems that Alito may be unfairly taking sides. Don't even get me started on the issue with Vanguard, as the excuse presented seems to change on a fairly frequent basis. His usage of membership in an overtly sexist college organization to obtain a job confounds me, and detracts from his credibility, whether he was an active participant or not. His opinions (official and unofficial) on abortion rights and privacy rights leave little to debate, regardless of whether he claims he never actually held those views. However, the veteran would like to present a theory of his own: Alito isn't a serious threat. Yes, he's going to tip the balance more toward big business, but he's not going to try overturning Roe v. Wade. The simple fact is that to do so would be madness, and may even place him in physical danger. It's not going to happen, short of confirmed nominations to a group of openly zealous fundamentalists. Yes, we should complain openly about this nomination. Yes, we should continue factfinding and analysis of Alito's past exploits. Reality, however, should keep him from making any major changes. Don't fear the Alito, but feel free to dislike the Alito. That is all.

Brad at 1/14/2006 12:52:00 PM

2comments

2 Comments

at 1/15/2006 12:37 AM k said...: I'm very pro-business at my core. I think Alito will help business (which in turns helps those who are hired by businesses). I agree, he won't overturn Roe vs. Wade. No one will I think.
at 1/15/2006 2:34 PM Poldark Maximus said...: Greetings from Fairbanks (Poldark Maximus is on assignment). The Alito hearing brought two issues into stark relief -- a) Harriet Meirs would have withered and under scrutiny, and perished under Committee review. The process works (good news).
b) Ted Kennedy is a political liability to Massachusetts, the Country and his Party, all of whom should actively seek to have him recalled. (bad news indeed)
Poldark Maximus has written this on extensively at :http://www.poldarkmaximus.com/journal/2006/1/15/kennedy-mass-voters-must-rid-us-of-this-toad.html