The Media has declared that Alito's nomination is a sure thing since the first day of the Judiciary Committee hearings. And of course some Democratic Senators reinforced this narrative with some very clumsy and unfortunate statements. But a funny thing has happened on the way to this "easy confirmation." It turns out it is not so easy.
Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO) joins Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) as a Red State Dem voting No on Alito and not ruling out a filibuster. Here's a part of Salazar's statement:
I will vote against the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito to the United States Supreme Court. I am convinced, based upon a very careful review of his record, that Judge Alito will move the Supreme Court outside the mainstream of American law. Judge Alito's judicial philosophy will expand Executive power too far, hurt the checks and balances built into our Constitution to protect us all, and roll back important civil rights protections that were achieved in our country through the sacrifices of many.
So far, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, in a much expected move, is the only Dem to announce he will vote for Alito. As I wrote a few days ago, the first issue is do we have 41 Nos on Alito. Without that, filibuster is not a possibility. It begins to look more and more like there will be 41 Nos.
And that might explain why Senator Bill Frist has prohibited floor speeches on Alito.
Will the Media be forced to cover the ACTUAL issues surrounding the possible confirmation of Alito as a Supreme Court Justice? Maybe. More on the other side.
These are the kind of statements Frist does not want the American public to hear -- from Senator Kennedy:
The nomination of Judge Alito is particularly significant because it comes at a time of new challenges for the nation and for the Court.
-- Suddenly, in this new century, we face unprecedented claims by the White House for sweeping expansions of Presidential power that are grave threats to the rule of law.
-- Despite progress in recent decades, we continue to face serious inequalities and injustices in our society, as demonstrated so clearly by the immense tragedy a few months ago in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
-- We face new controversies over governmental intrusion into people's private lives - from the interference with personal medical decisions on how long a loved one should be kept on life support, to new attempts to limit or even deny a woman's reproductive decisions.
--We face new attacks on the progress we've made in civil rights. The signs proclaiming "whites only" may be gone, but we know that discrimination and bigotry in countless other manifestations still blight our society and limit opportunity.
One of the most important of all the responsibilities of the Supreme Court is to enforce the constitutional limitations on Presidential power. A Justice must have the courage and the wisdom to speak truth to power - to tell even the President that he has gone too far.
Chief Justice John Marshall was that kind of Justice when he told President Jefferson that he had exceeded his war-making powers under the Constitution. Justice Robert Jackson was that kind of Justice when he told President Truman that he could not misuse the Korean War as an excuse to take over the nation's steel mills. Chief Justice Warren Burger was that kind of Justice when he told President Nixon to turn over the White House tapes on Watergate. And Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was that kind of Justice when she told President Bush that "a state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the nation's citizens."
We need that kind of Justice on the Court as much as ever. For today, we have a President who believes that torture can be an acceptable practice, despite laws and treaties that explicitly prohibit it. We have a President who claims the power to arrest American citizens on American soil and jail them for years, without the benefit of counsel or access to the courts. We have a President who claims he has the authority to spy on American citizens on American soil without a court order.
The record of Judge Alito is clear and ominous. Examine his writings. Read the transcript of the hearings. Consider the cases he's decided. The record demonstrates that we cannot count on Judge Alito to blow the whistle when the President is out of bounds.
We'll see if the Media is willing cover the issues now in the scond half of the Alito confirmation battle.