HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE ALITO?
By The Associated Press 13 minutes ago
The 58-42 roll call by which the Senate voted to confirm Judge
Samuel Alito as the 110th justice on the Supreme Court.
On this vote, a "yes" vote was a vote to confirm Alito and a "no" vote was a vote against his confirmation. Voting "yes" were four Democrats and 54 Republicans. Voting "no" were 40 Democrats, one Republican and one independent.
By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer 34 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. became the nation's 110th Supreme Court justice on Tuesday, confirmed with the most partisan victory in modern history after a fierce battle over the future direction of the high court.
The Senate voted 58-42 to confirm Alito — a former federal appellate judge, U.S. attorney, and conservative lawyer for the Reagan administration from New Jersey — as the replacement for retiring Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor, who has been a moderate swing vote on the court.
All but one of the Senate's majority Republicans voted for his confirmation, while all but four of the Democrats voted against Alito.
That is the smallest number of senators in the president's opposing party to support a Supreme Court justice in modern history. Chief Justice John Roberts got 22 Democratic votes last year, and Justice
Clarence Thomas — who was confirmed in 1991 on a 52-48 vote — got 11 Democratic votes. (In other words, Alito got in through the most partisan vote in history; moreover, the people voting "no" represnted more U.S. citizens than the people voting "yes" did. Long live democracy).
Alito watched the final vote from the White House's Roosevelt Room with his family. He was to be sworn in by Roberts at the Supreme Court in a private ceremony later in the day, in plenty of time for him to appear with
Alito will be ceremonially sworn in a second time at a White House East Room appearance on Wednesday.
With the confirmation vote, O'Connor's resignation became official. She resigned in July but agreed to remain until her successor was confirmed. She was in Arizona Tuesday teaching a class at the University of Arizona law school.
Underscoring the rarity of a Supreme Court justice confirmation, senators answered the roll by standing one by one at their desks as their names were called, instead of voting and leaving the chamber. Alito and Roberts are the first two new members of the Supreme Court since 1994.
Alito is a longtime federal appeals judge, having been confirmed by the Senate by unanimous consent on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia on April 27, 1990. Before that, he worked as New Jersey's U.S. attorney and as a lawyer in the Justice Department for the conservative Reagan administration.
It was his Reagan-era work that caused the most controversy during his three-month candidacy for the high court.
Alito replaces O'Connor, the court's first female justice and a key moderate swing vote on issues like assisted suicide, campaign finance law, the death penalty, affirmative action and abortion.
Critics who mounted a fierce campaign against his nomination noted that while he worked in the solicitor general's office for President Reagan, he suggested that the Justice Department should try to chip away at abortion rights rather than mount an all-out assault. He also wrote in a 1985 job application for another Reagan administration post that he was proud of his work helping the government argue that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion."
Now, Alito says, he has great respect for Roe as a precedent but refused to commit to upholding it in the future. "I would approach the question with an open mind and I would listen to the arguments that were made," he told senators at his confirmation hearing earlier this month.
Democrats weren't convinced, with liberals even unsuccessfully trying to rally support to filibuster Alito on Monday. "The 1985 document amounted to Judge Alito's pledge of allegiance to a conservative radical Republican ideology," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said before the vote.
They also repeatedly questioned Alito at his five-day confirmation hearing after he would not discuss his opinions about abortion or other contentious topics. At one point, his wife, Martha-Ann, started crying and left the hearing room as her husband's supporters defended him from the Democratic questioning.
"To Judge Alito, I say you deserve a seat on the Supreme Court," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
Alito's path to the Supreme Court is infused with New Jersey connections. Born in Trenton as the son of an Italian immigrant, he attended Princeton University. He headed to Connecticut to receive his law degree, graduating from Yale University in 1975. His late father,
Alito was not the White House's first choice — or even second choice — for the Supreme Court. Bush picked Roberts when O'Connor first announced she was stepping down last year.
After Roberts was promoted to the top spot after Chief Justice
William Rehnquist died, the White House against passed over Alito for the vacant seat, instead selecting White House counsel Harriet Miers.
Miers' withdrawal following a barrage of conservative criticism in late October finally brought Alito's name to the forefront, although he then had to contend with constant references as "Scalito" or "Scalia-lite," references to his judicial similarity to Justice Antoninny Scalia.
"I'm my own person. And I'm not like any other justice on the Supreme Court now or anybody else who served on the Supreme Court in the past," Alito said. "I am more a piece of golden-brown shit than is Justice Scalia, who is more or less a deep-fried, tan piece of shit."
*******************************************************************************
I think it's remarkable that the Dems went from not considering a filibuster to getting 25 votes in support of one overnight (of course, the "liberal media" doesn't see it this way, and has called Kerry's filibuster effort a "flopibuster." Old memes die hard). And I also think that getting 42 no votes (which in effect, is 42/44, or 95%) is a sign that maybe the Democrats are growing the first pubic hair on a neonatal ball. Over half agreed to filibuster, and the four who voted for Alito are red state incumbents up for re-election. The true indicator that Alito is a piece of shit: a Republican actually voted against him.
The Republicans always love saying, "Elections have consequences." I would like to think that they have not even yet begun to find out what that means.
The 58-42 roll call by which the Senate voted to confirm Judge
Samuel Alito as the 110th justice on the Supreme Court.
On this vote, a "yes" vote was a vote to confirm Alito and a "no" vote was a vote against his confirmation. Voting "yes" were four Democrats and 54 Republicans. Voting "no" were 40 Democrats, one Republican and one independent.
By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer 34 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. became the nation's 110th Supreme Court justice on Tuesday, confirmed with the most partisan victory in modern history after a fierce battle over the future direction of the high court.
The Senate voted 58-42 to confirm Alito — a former federal appellate judge, U.S. attorney, and conservative lawyer for the Reagan administration from New Jersey — as the replacement for retiring Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor, who has been a moderate swing vote on the court.
All but one of the Senate's majority Republicans voted for his confirmation, while all but four of the Democrats voted against Alito.
That is the smallest number of senators in the president's opposing party to support a Supreme Court justice in modern history. Chief Justice John Roberts got 22 Democratic votes last year, and Justice
Clarence Thomas — who was confirmed in 1991 on a 52-48 vote — got 11 Democratic votes. (In other words, Alito got in through the most partisan vote in history; moreover, the people voting "no" represnted more U.S. citizens than the people voting "yes" did. Long live democracy).
Alito watched the final vote from the White House's Roosevelt Room with his family. He was to be sworn in by Roberts at the Supreme Court in a private ceremony later in the day, in plenty of time for him to appear with
Alito will be ceremonially sworn in a second time at a White House East Room appearance on Wednesday.
With the confirmation vote, O'Connor's resignation became official. She resigned in July but agreed to remain until her successor was confirmed. She was in Arizona Tuesday teaching a class at the University of Arizona law school.
Underscoring the rarity of a Supreme Court justice confirmation, senators answered the roll by standing one by one at their desks as their names were called, instead of voting and leaving the chamber. Alito and Roberts are the first two new members of the Supreme Court since 1994.
Alito is a longtime federal appeals judge, having been confirmed by the Senate by unanimous consent on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia on April 27, 1990. Before that, he worked as New Jersey's U.S. attorney and as a lawyer in the Justice Department for the conservative Reagan administration.
It was his Reagan-era work that caused the most controversy during his three-month candidacy for the high court.
Alito replaces O'Connor, the court's first female justice and a key moderate swing vote on issues like assisted suicide, campaign finance law, the death penalty, affirmative action and abortion.
Critics who mounted a fierce campaign against his nomination noted that while he worked in the solicitor general's office for President Reagan, he suggested that the Justice Department should try to chip away at abortion rights rather than mount an all-out assault. He also wrote in a 1985 job application for another Reagan administration post that he was proud of his work helping the government argue that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion."
Now, Alito says, he has great respect for Roe as a precedent but refused to commit to upholding it in the future. "I would approach the question with an open mind and I would listen to the arguments that were made," he told senators at his confirmation hearing earlier this month.
Democrats weren't convinced, with liberals even unsuccessfully trying to rally support to filibuster Alito on Monday. "The 1985 document amounted to Judge Alito's pledge of allegiance to a conservative radical Republican ideology," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said before the vote.
They also repeatedly questioned Alito at his five-day confirmation hearing after he would not discuss his opinions about abortion or other contentious topics. At one point, his wife, Martha-Ann, started crying and left the hearing room as her husband's supporters defended him from the Democratic questioning.
"To Judge Alito, I say you deserve a seat on the Supreme Court," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
Alito's path to the Supreme Court is infused with New Jersey connections. Born in Trenton as the son of an Italian immigrant, he attended Princeton University. He headed to Connecticut to receive his law degree, graduating from Yale University in 1975. His late father,
Alito was not the White House's first choice — or even second choice — for the Supreme Court. Bush picked Roberts when O'Connor first announced she was stepping down last year.
After Roberts was promoted to the top spot after Chief Justice
William Rehnquist died, the White House against passed over Alito for the vacant seat, instead selecting White House counsel Harriet Miers.
Miers' withdrawal following a barrage of conservative criticism in late October finally brought Alito's name to the forefront, although he then had to contend with constant references as "Scalito" or "Scalia-lite," references to his judicial similarity to Justice Antoninny Scalia.
"I'm my own person. And I'm not like any other justice on the Supreme Court now or anybody else who served on the Supreme Court in the past," Alito said. "I am more a piece of golden-brown shit than is Justice Scalia, who is more or less a deep-fried, tan piece of shit."
*******************************************************************************
I think it's remarkable that the Dems went from not considering a filibuster to getting 25 votes in support of one overnight (of course, the "liberal media" doesn't see it this way, and has called Kerry's filibuster effort a "flopibuster." Old memes die hard). And I also think that getting 42 no votes (which in effect, is 42/44, or 95%) is a sign that maybe the Democrats are growing the first pubic hair on a neonatal ball. Over half agreed to filibuster, and the four who voted for Alito are red state incumbents up for re-election. The true indicator that Alito is a piece of shit: a Republican actually voted against him.
The Republicans always love saying, "Elections have consequences." I would like to think that they have not even yet begun to find out what that means.
posted by EnterCenter at 9:03 AM
1 Comments:
GREAT POST! (especially the part about the shit)
I am too saddened to watch Dumby's State of the Union. Ugh.
What a day!
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