On Halloween Day, President Bush gave conservatives a treat when he nominated Samuel Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court. After making an enemy of everyone by nominating Harriet Miers, Bush followed his foul ball with a home run. Now the only task left is to get Alito confirmed and on the Court.
Certainly the conservative will be lining up to vote for Alito, but the key will be in the moderate, “gang of 14” Senators who may be charged with stopping a filibuster, should liberals try to use this unsavory, undemocratic tactic.
Alito would likely be filibustered because of his gender or jurisprudence. It certainly does not seem to matter to liberals that Alito has a career of government service and 15 years worth of brilliant opinions from the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. While this provides ample evidence of his qualifications for the job, qualifications do not matter to Senate liberal like Chuck Schumer and Ted Kennedy.
“Alito is not qualified” is a hard argument to make. Considering Alito’s background, I would argue that not one is qualified for the Supreme Court if Samuel Alito Jr. is not. Shouldn’t qualifications be the decisive consideration for a Senator entrusted with voting a nominee up or down?
Qualifications, not gender, and certainly not political ideology, were the main reason for conservatives who supported liberal Clinton nominees Ginsberg, and Breyer. For liberals the standard is different. Alito is obviously not a woman, which will mean that because he will be replacing a woman (if confirmed) the Court will only have one female left. Apparently, all cases that come to the Court require at least two women on the Court to see things form a women’s perspective, or at least to keep the Court from becoming an “old white men’s club.”
While diversity on the Court is a good thing, a President must first and foremost pick the very best person for the job. This may be someone of any gender, race, religion etc; as long as they are qualified and are able to be fair and impartial on every case that comes before them. Other qualities like gender must take a back seat. Finally, some senators may call into question Alito’s jurisprudence. One doesn’t have to read many of Alito’s 15 years worth of opinions from the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals to realize that the man is a conservative’s conservative. Alito puts into practice his firm belief in judicial restraint every time he pens an opinion.
Alito’s opinions are not intended to legislate from the bench, or decide more than more than is necessary. In fact, they defer to the legislature if appropriate. Conservatives must certainly be thrilled at these revelations but liberals will use them as attack points and reasons to vote no on confirmation. This serves as yet another example of the arrogance of modern day liberals in the Senate. They are consumed in their own liberal ideas that they cannot fathom having anyone else on the High Court, or any other political branch for that matter. So, why, if the ideas of liberals are so superior, have the American people put them in charge of nothing, not the Presidency, the Senate or the House?
I think it is time for liberals to realize that since conservatives are mainstream enough for the American people to put them in charge of all parts of the Executive and Legislative Branches, conservative nominees for the Judicial branch should get a fair, up or down vote from every liberal in the Senate.
Whether one liberal or conservative and likes or dislikes Alito’s gender, or jurisprudence, everyone must agree on one thing: Samuel Alito has the intelligence, temperament, and qualifications to be an excellent Supreme Court Justice.
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