Can This Be Mainstream?
posted by Will
Emily Bazelon in Slate explains yet another reason why Bush's newest Supreme Court nominee should concern anyone who doesn't want judges who will "legislate from the bench".
cont'd after link
I know, I know. Of course that is a meaningless, partisan phrase, and of course all judicial nominations are ideological. Otherwise a Reagan would nominate a Breyer and a Clinton would nominate a Scalia.
But Alito is different. He displays two kinds of thoughtlessness again and again that should give even conservatives pause: his shaky and oft-overturned legal reasoning, and his reluctance to have even a passing consideration for a case's place in the great ethical controversies of our time--for instance, racism and gender equality. Unless blinded by a single-issue cause, we should all be able to agree that judges who repeatedly prove to be incapable of basic care should be given a long, hard stare when they testify.
Arlen Specter at least says he'll do just that. I'm not confident.
Charles Schumer, or Russ Feingold, I'm looking to you to use your time to read Emily Bazelon's articles aloud. Try to get Alito's response. Get him to explain. Knowing enough about what he thinks about many issues, I think most people would conclude Alito is miles from the mainstream, and that they wouldn't want their own fate, or their children's, decided by a man who has had his mind made up about everything for decades. Opposing such a nomination is mainstream.
It is time for moderate justices, who are capable of thinking, and therefore capable of changing their mind.
cont'd after link
I know, I know. Of course that is a meaningless, partisan phrase, and of course all judicial nominations are ideological. Otherwise a Reagan would nominate a Breyer and a Clinton would nominate a Scalia.
But Alito is different. He displays two kinds of thoughtlessness again and again that should give even conservatives pause: his shaky and oft-overturned legal reasoning, and his reluctance to have even a passing consideration for a case's place in the great ethical controversies of our time--for instance, racism and gender equality. Unless blinded by a single-issue cause, we should all be able to agree that judges who repeatedly prove to be incapable of basic care should be given a long, hard stare when they testify.
Arlen Specter at least says he'll do just that. I'm not confident.
Charles Schumer, or Russ Feingold, I'm looking to you to use your time to read Emily Bazelon's articles aloud. Try to get Alito's response. Get him to explain. Knowing enough about what he thinks about many issues, I think most people would conclude Alito is miles from the mainstream, and that they wouldn't want their own fate, or their children's, decided by a man who has had his mind made up about everything for decades. Opposing such a nomination is mainstream.
It is time for moderate justices, who are capable of thinking, and therefore capable of changing their mind.
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