Across the Ist-a-Verse
Philly is a liberal town. If President George W. Bush picks a local judge to nominate for Supreme Court justice, that should be a good thing, right? Alas, no -- President Bush managed to find Philadelphia's most extreme Right Wing judge, Samuel Alito, to nominate. He's so conservative that his nickname is 'Scalito', a reference to his Antonin Scalia-like tendencies.
So what do we know about Judge Alito? Alito is a Jersey boy and is currently serving on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. And, unlike Harriet Miers, Alito is awash in judicial experience. That's the good part. Unfortunately, Alito's past judicial rulings indicate that he is hostile toward minorities, those with disabilities, the Family and Medical Leave Act, civil rights, abused spouses, and a woman's right to make her own medical decisions.
We are not optimistic. Just what we need -- another wealthy, white, conservative man on the Supreme Court who longs for the romance of 1950. He's already been paraded past Rosa Parks for his photo op, now we expect his religious street cred to be trumpeted. Because hey, we wouldn't expect a Supreme Court justice to rule according to the U.S. Constitution without taking his religious beliefs into account.
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I am sure that someone out there has some incriminating pictures on this guy. Maybe a shady financial transaction? Transgendered boyfriend?
Anyone?
Anyone?
Well, let's be fair. Sure, the guy leans way right, but he's never shown a clear religious bias in any of his rulings.
Furthermore, his alleged hostility towards minorities has no basis in his judicial record. What he does have a history of is strictly interpreting employment law in a manner that often favours the employer, not the employee. As many of the employment cases that went before him dealt with racial (or other) discrimination, I can understand where the appearance of being anti-minority comes from, but it's really more that he supports employers' rights and holds all employees, regardless of race, to a high burden of proof.
He's also a strong supporter of state's rights, and unlike many other conservative justices and politicos, for whom "state's rights" is just careful code for "anti-abortion", his record seems to indicate that he really believes in limited federal government. Personally, I'm all for that.
Look, by all accounts the guy is ethical and highly intelligent. Sure, some of his opinions may be distasteful, but I'll take an ethical and highly competent bastion of the right over a spineless moderate toady any day of the week.
Also, I think that the language that the Think Progress site uses do describe Alito is biased, inaccurate and pretty misleading.
I'd like to see a pro-choice justice replace O'Connor as much as the next reasonable human being, but I can't approve of that kind of shifty smear tactics. If he's not right for the position, he should be vilified for what he actually believes, not the least charitable interpretation of what he might be saying.