Alito Confirmation Hearings 1
Was able to catch a couple of hours of the Alito hearings this morning.
Brief summary of my tentative initial judgments, just to get the ball rolling:
1. Alito came off as being rather more reasonable than I'd come to expect he would. Liberals may have hurt themselves a bit by building him up to be a complete nut. (But I don't take such impressions very seriously.)
2. I've got a good bit of respect for Specter. I thought he did a good job as chair and liked his performance during his 30-minute question period, though he didn't give Alito enough time to give detailed answers.
3. Leahy's questions were strong, and he turned up the first really worrisome problem: Alito wasn't willing to come down strongly enough against presidential abuse of power.
4. Kennedy and Hatch came across as partisan hacks. Hatch didn't even ask real questions, he just conducted a 30-minute pro-Alito commercial. However he did give Alito an opportunity to put the Vanguard ethics charges to rest to my satisfaction. I'm inclined to consider that a non-issue now.
FWIW, here's my current attitude about this stuff:
A. Ethics charges re: non-recusal during Vanguard-related case: bogus.
B. His stance on presidential power:
B1. Overall: tentatively alarming
B2. Re: the stuff about the "Unified Executive": seems less bad than I thought.
C. Membership in Concerned Alumni of Princeton: weird. He has a semi--but only semi--plausible explanation.
I'm worried about his stance on abortion, but currently most alarmed about an unfettered and unscrupulous executive branch running amok in the country and the world. At a different time, I might actually be inclined to be mildly pro-Alito at this point. But not now. To be in favor of him I think I'm going to have to hear him say something more convincing and reasonable on this subject.
Was able to catch a couple of hours of the Alito hearings this morning.
Brief summary of my tentative initial judgments, just to get the ball rolling:
1. Alito came off as being rather more reasonable than I'd come to expect he would. Liberals may have hurt themselves a bit by building him up to be a complete nut. (But I don't take such impressions very seriously.)
2. I've got a good bit of respect for Specter. I thought he did a good job as chair and liked his performance during his 30-minute question period, though he didn't give Alito enough time to give detailed answers.
3. Leahy's questions were strong, and he turned up the first really worrisome problem: Alito wasn't willing to come down strongly enough against presidential abuse of power.
4. Kennedy and Hatch came across as partisan hacks. Hatch didn't even ask real questions, he just conducted a 30-minute pro-Alito commercial. However he did give Alito an opportunity to put the Vanguard ethics charges to rest to my satisfaction. I'm inclined to consider that a non-issue now.
FWIW, here's my current attitude about this stuff:
A. Ethics charges re: non-recusal during Vanguard-related case: bogus.
B. His stance on presidential power:
B1. Overall: tentatively alarming
B2. Re: the stuff about the "Unified Executive": seems less bad than I thought.
C. Membership in Concerned Alumni of Princeton: weird. He has a semi--but only semi--plausible explanation.
I'm worried about his stance on abortion, but currently most alarmed about an unfettered and unscrupulous executive branch running amok in the country and the world. At a different time, I might actually be inclined to be mildly pro-Alito at this point. But not now. To be in favor of him I think I'm going to have to hear him say something more convincing and reasonable on this subject.
posted by Winston Smith at
4:07 PM
5 Comments:
Caught Russ Feingold yesterday. If all (or a lot more) lefties were as elegant and statesmanlike, you guys would have a shot.
yeah, all we got on our side is truth and reason.
Feingold is my Senator, and proudly so, and goddamnit it I'd like to see him get the presidential nomination in '08.
With regard to Vanguard...the standard is appearance of impropriety.
Alito removed (or concurred with opinions removing) judges in tobacco and asbestos related cases (as a Circuit Judge) for 1) writing a harsh opinion regarding the tobacco industry's tendencies to obscure, not reveal info and 2) attending a conference about asbestos litigation.
Newbie lawyers like me are always hyper-concerned about actual and PERCEIVED conflicts of interest. I guess if I stick with it and become a judge, it just won't matter. I shall proclaim myself impartial, or blame the computer, and that will be that.
Main point: Regardless if the fucker can rule impartially, the rules and the law state that you should never put yourself in a position where you have to make that argument. It's simply elementary, common sensical, and only ethical jerks even get near the issue is as blatant a fashion as Alito has on numerous occassions.
abjectfunk
RH at LacDogFeu thinks Feingold hurt Alito on Vanguard. I think.
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