Today’s focus for the Twelve Days for Justice Protest centers on Judge Alito’s views regarding presidential powers, in light of the recent admission of George W. Bush that he has violated the 4th Amendment by authorizing unwarranted wire-tapping on U.S. citizens.
If you’ve been following along with us so far, you already know that Judge Alito’s record on the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals clearly shows that he subscribes to a far right-wing judicial philosophy: he holds a very narrow and harmful view of the role of the federal government in protecting our health and safety; he believes in restricting a women’s right to obtain an abortion; he is hostile to disability rights; he has belonged to groups supportive of gender discrimination; and he regularly sides with big corporations against workers and environmental protections, even when his mainstream colleagues do not. The nomination of a judge with such extreme ideological views to the Supreme Court is a threat to our long-standing constitutional rights and legal protections, one that we must do everything in our power to oppose.
Links to previous diaries, today’s sample form letter to send to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and contact information for the Senators below the fold…
Here are the links to the previous Daily Justice Diaries:
- Day One – Balance of Power in Government
- Day Two – Age Discrimination/FMLA
- Day Three – Judicial Ethics
- Day Four – Needs of the Disabled
- Day Five – Roe v. Wade
- Day Six – Separation of Church and State
- Day Seven – Freedom of Religion
- Day Eight – Old Boys Club
- Day Nine – Equality Under the Law
- Day Ten – Gender Discrimination
- Day Eleven – Corporate Interests
Continuing Action: After the Diary for Day 12 is available, print each diary and make booklets to hand out from December 23rd to January 9th.
Please feel free to copy or adapt the sample letter below to send to your representatives, as well the members of the Senate Judicial Committee.
Three groups to contact: your senators, the Judiciary Committee, and your representatives
Dear Senator,
In 1989, Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. denounced the high court’s decision that year upholding a Watergate-era law that allowed independent counsels to investigate wrongdoing in the White House, arguing that the decision amounted to a ”congressional pilfering” of presidential power.
Speaking at a convention marking an anniversary of the Bill of Rights, Alito endorsed the strong view of presidential power described by Justice Antonin Scalia, the only member of the court to vote against the independent counsel law, calling Scalia’s opinion ”a brilliant but very lonely dissent.” Scalia argued that no president should be subject to a prosecutor who is not also answerable to that president under the Constitution.
Such remarks are highly alarming in light of the current constitutional crisis faced by the United States, where the President has not only admitted to committing an impeachable offense, but has declared his intention to continue breaking the same law. Furthermore, President Bush has asserted the power to hold prisoners without trial, shield documents, and authorize aggressive interrogations without congressional approval. Because the President has been so openly disdainful of the Constitution and rule of law in this country, I question his choice of nominee for the Supreme Court.
The advice and consent clause of the Constitution gives the Senate the vital role of asking the hard questions and, where necessary, withholding confirmation. Because of his radical right-wing judicial philosophy and the damage that his confirmation could inflict on American citizens for many years to come, I am urging you to oppose the confirmation of Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court.
Sincerely,