March 01, 2006
Alito returns Dobson's favors
Let's not hear any more about Alito's "neutrality." He's a right-wing partisan, and his thank-you letter to James Dobson shows it.
January 26, 2006
What are they waiting for?
Bush is breaking the law, and his Supreme Court nominee is basically OK with that. If that isn't an "extraordinary circumstance," what is?
January 17, 2006
Alito, judges, and moral values
I was a little sore at Prof. Bainbridge for using my post on Alito as a punching bag in a way that would be off the mark if he had read the whole thing, so I held off responding until now. I'm also impatient with the straw man dichotomy between judges who respect the law meticulously and judges who careen...
January 14, 2006
Filibuster? Damned straight!
Alito backs the Bush rationale for committing felonies whenever he wants to. Now the Democrats in the Senate need to decide whether they're serious about defending the Constitution.
January 13, 2006
A Poisoned Chalice?
The skids seem to be well-greased for Alito's appointment to the Supreme Court, and (less certainly) for a reversal or drastic restriction of Roe v. Wade. Goethe famously warned "be careful what you wish for in youth, for you will certainly achieve it in old age" and the consequences for the right will be extremely interesting to watch. Analogic thought...
January 12, 2006
A piece missing
[more on this issue here and here above] I have been dipping into the Alito hearings, not following them completely, but enough to form a distinct and I think a fair impression. I read the nominee as a competent, careful, capable legal craftsman, unprejudiced as regards religion or race, and a decent guy. He is greatly favored with petty (not...
January 10, 2006
How to Write Talking Points--Alito Edition
Kevin Drum is unsure about what the "battle cry" against Alito ought to be. After all, he notes, Alito hasn't really come out and said anything outrageous. Is Alito fudging furiously? Probably. But it still doesn't give liberals much of a purchase to lead a battle against his nomination. Subtle arguments about the nature of stare decisis and the precise...
October 31, 2005
Alito, Plame, and the Democrats
The fight over Alito will distract people from the Plame affair. Too bad. The Democrats probably need to fight anyway.
Some Speculations on the Alito Pick
Here are my "no inside sources" speculations on what drove Bush to pick Alito: a) Bush obviously had to get his base, especially those in the organizational wing of the Republican party back on side. Based on all of the initial blogging today, he succeeded completely--conservatives seem to have gone from "time to jump ship" to "all hands on...
