[Crosssposted at Political Cortex]
Don't be shocked if the Congressinal Black Caucus doesn't support Sam Alito's quest to be a Supreme Court Justice. The CBC's request to meet Alito was snubbed recently.
Does this mean much? Well, if you don't care about the CBC, or you thik Alito is an OK guy then the answer is "no." Otherwise, you should be at least a little concerned.
By all means, continue:
You see, the CBC is known as "the Conscience of the Congress since 1969" and has
actually done some noteworthy things. This isn't some makeshift group, some plant used to discredit or smear. The CBC doesn't work that way.
They sent a letter requesting to meet Alito on November 7th of this year. Since then, Alito has meet with Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, Sen. Sam Brownback, Sen. Arlen Specter, Sen. Herb Kohl, Sen. Russ Feingold, and others. Barack Obama, the only CBC member who can vote on Alito, had this to say when the nomination was announced (emphasis mine):
Though I will reserve judgment on how I will vote on Judge Alito's nomination until after the hearings, I am concerned that President Bush has wasted an opportunity to appoint a consensus nominee in the mold of Sandra Day O'Connor and has instead made a selection to appease the far right-wing of the Republican Party.
Well, we've all had enough time to know what he could bring to the Supreme Court. From SaveTheCourt.org:
An African American had been convicted of felony murder by an all white jury from which black jurors had been impermissibly struck because of their race. Alito cast the deciding vote and wrote the majority opinion in a 2-1 ruling rejecting the defendant's claims. The full Third Circuit, in a split decision, reversed Alito's ruling, and the majority specifically criticized him for having compared statistical evidence about the prosecution's exclusion of blacks from juries in capital cases to an explanation of why a disproportionate number of recent U.S. Presidents have been left-handed. According to the majority, "[t]o suggest any comparability to the striking of jurors based on their race is to minimize the history of discrimination against prospective black jurors and black defendants . . ."
So what does this means? Quite simply, Alito couldn't care less what black people think of him. If he just needs the Senate to get in, and only there's only one black Senator, why bother to meet with any of them?
I take it as a blatant sign of disrespect. Yes, the CBC also requested to meet John Roberts during his nomination (they had an issue or two with him as well), but at least Roberts was decent enough to formerly reject their offer.
Alito's actions only give Democrats one more reason to push for a filabuster.
