I overslept. Specter is almost done questioning Alito.
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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Specter wants to know whether the Iraq War Resolution gave the Prez authority to do warrantless surviellance.
Go right to the top and tell ’em not to Alito’s Confirmination:
Phone, fax, and email addresses for the Judiciary Committee.
Here’s another “Veto to Alito” tool:
Write a letter to the editor of your local paper and contact your congress critters — all with one click.
Also: Moveon.org gathered 300,000 signatures in their Anti-Alito petition — in a day!
They’re shooting for 500,000, please sign if you haven’t already:
Move On.org’s stop Alito petition
People for the American Way have sent over 60,000 letters to the Senate:
Save the Court Petition
American Rights at Work also
Oppose Alito Petition
Defending the Constitution’s Stop Alito Petition
http://ga3.org/…
Democratic anti-Alito petition:
Democratic Party’s Reject Alito Petition
Stop the NRA is also getting in on the party:
Stop the NRA’s Oppose Alito Petiton
And while you’re at it: sign Planned Parenthood’s anti-Alito petition, too:
Planned Parenthood Petition
NARAL is shooting for 500,000 signatures, please add yours:
Naral Anti-Alito Petition
And don’t forget: urge Congress to support Plan B:
Plan B Petition
Apparently Alito’s been evasive on a lot of points (was skimming the live-blogging thread over at DKos). But at least Specter seems to be asking the right questions…
(Thanks to you and other folks who are following these hearings — those of us who can’t appreciate the updates!)
specter lists the facts:
Alito gave an obvious response. He would interpret the statutory law, and then look at executive action when it appears to come into direct opposition of Congress. And then make a decision that he cannot speculate on.
This is why thes hearings are always a farce. We know he’s lying. Specter knows he’s lying. The media knows he’s lying.
But will anyone come out and say so?
Rhetorical question.
okay. Leahy is up. I missed the first 2/3’s of Specter so I can’t summarize it.
It sounds like you made it for the good stuff.
For those so inclined, the dKos live thread is here.
Leahy opens with McCain’s amendment, and the fact that Bush signed it with a statement that it would not apply to him or his officers.
Alito responds by saying that he has never had the opportunity to think about the legal significance of a signing statement (making a statement while signing a bill that characterizes what the law is designed to do).
Leahy: what is your view of the administration’s contention (since withdrawn) that they can immunize their officers against prohibition on torture.
Can the commander-in-chief immunize people under his command?
Alito: in such a case the Prez’s power is at its lowest ebb. But hopefully Congress would resolve it for me.
Just reciting prior opinion of Sup. Ct. Not a good indication of what he believes or will do.
Leahy: moron!! Answer the questio.
Alito: the Prez has to follow the law. Law must be faithfully executed. But sometimes Executive Power has to analyzed in the Twilight Zone using the framework that Justice Jackson used.
Guess he’s been prepped well by Lindsay Graham.
Alito is such a nerdy little troll. And he’s already getting annoyed with Leahy…first hour of questioning, and he’s already on edge?
Leahy: would it be cool for the Prez to whack an American citizen.
Alito: the Prez can’t violate a statute that is constitutional.
Leahy: can’t we outlaw torture?
Alito: you did that.
Leahy: it is cool for the Prez to immunize people so that get break out the jumper cables?
Alito: i need the specifics.
when Leahy said FISA. Go Leahy Go!
Leahy: remember Nixon? that asshole? He’s why we passed FISA. THe Prez is ignoring FISA. THat makes him Nixon without a brain. Is that cool?
Alito: the Prez has to comply with the 4th amendment. It could be in the Supreme Court. I need to hear the arguments.
Thanks BooMan for live blogging this.
Here is some analysis of what’s gone on so far from Armando. I think these 2 in particular are important.
Leahy: if they are secretly bugging me how will I know and get standing in court to stop it?
Alito: if you knew you could get standing.
Leahy: are you down with harrassing Quakers for being against war?
Leahy: I’m not asking these as hypothetical questions…we’re very concerned, just found out about the spying from the press, not the government…spying on Quakers in Vermont that Leahy knows personally. I worry about this, I want to make sure that courts will respect your privacy and will say so.
i gotta go the store soon. Anyone want to volunteer to sit in for a while?
Susan Haig: I’m in charge here now.
(Boo called me … the dog is out of biscuits…. i’l try altho i’m lousy at this.)
The secret service photographed people at Crawford very obviously I think to try to intimidate everybody.
YES, they were there doing that when I was there too! A guy on a bike in biking girl but FBI sunglasses was VERY obviously taking pics!
doe v grudy
baker v madison co.
doe: searched people without warrant 10 year old stripped search without even asking permission.
You said they were justified. You went beyond the search warrant. And one other member of the court (CHERTOFF) said it would come dangerously close to replacing the role of the magistrate (who issues warrants).
Alito: Did the warrant authorize the search of people on the premises? Was the affadavit clear on who was to be searched. I was not pleased that a 10 year old girl was strip searched.
Alito: the police officers said that this drug dealer hides drugs on people. The magistrate said the affadavit was incorporated into the warrant. Could the officers be sued for damages. I thought a reasonable officer could have assumed it was cool to take a 10 year old’s clothes off.
Leahy said he was in law enforcement ten years and never came across a law enforcement official that thought it was “reasonable” to strip search a 10 yr old girl!
Leahy is telling the history of prejedice in his family. Irish Catholics in New England.
Now the CAP. Priceton Alumni group that opposed the inclusion of women and minorities into PU.
Bradley and Frist criticized this group. But in 1985 you proudly listed you were a member of CAP.
Why in heaven’s name with your background would you be proud to a member of CAP.
and I think you and I would agree America is a better place now that we’ve done away with that.’
(I presume Alito is also Catholic.)
Alito: I have no recognition of being a member of that group, but I must have been. I guess maybe I was mad they kicked the ROTC off campus.
Next question should be : Were you lying to get a job then (1985), or are you lying to get one now?
Alito: snobs at Princeton were too good for the military. (Fucking bullshit, BTW).
Gosh, I’ve been wracking my memory about that. I just can’t imagine what I was thinking. Oh yeah, I wanted to support our troops!
Alito: I should not have been comfortable with group as I understand it today. I think I was just sucking up to Ed Meese who everyone knows is a flat racist.
Orrin Hatch is up: are you against women and minorities going to college?
Alito: No.
Orrin: I’m shocked.
Hatch: has no idea what an Eating Club is.
It is a non-greek fraternity. I used to steal their kegs.
I never went to school with girls, until I got to Princeton; and then oh, ba-aby!
(committee)hyuck, hyuck, hyuck.
Some background: women were first allowed into Princeton in about 1969. Alito attended Princeton right after that point. The CAP group was organized in protest of women and minorities getting slots that used to go to the sons of Alumni (like Bush at Yale).
Leahy frustrated me — he wasn’t hard enough — or was he offering up those issues so that others could hit ino them again?
btw, Stanford was like that too … the ratio of men to women was 3-1, and I counted about 6 black students on the entire campus. Tokens, they were.
My best friend was a black girl, originally from Jamaica, and then from Compton in L.A. She was a glorious friend — we talked literature and philosophy all hours of day and night. She was wild and funny. But by our senior year, she’d been under so much pressure by the tiny group of black activists, that she spurned all of her white friends, including me. I couldn’t blame her, painful as it was.
I think part of the point of this ROTC line of questioning is meant to show that he’s not the wimp that he seems to be. Not working.
They claim the Princeton ROTC was firebombed. I never heard this story. I’ll look into it. I think I would have heard about this.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%2BPrinceton+%2B%28%22rotc+bomb%22+OR+%22rotc+burn%22+OR+%2
2burned+the+ROTC%22%29&btnG=Google+Search
All I find with this quick search is Kent State.
I found some stuff about the ROTC building at U-W Madison being firebombed in the early 70’s, but nothing about Princeton other than protests.
It was the Math building and it was 1970, somewhat after the big nationwide spring Cambodia protests.
I sailed a college regatta at the campus in September, barely weeks afterwards. Glorious weather by the way, and their lead skipper was a real speed demon. One or more of them were meterology students as I recall. Super Tech dinghies??
Anyways that was my memory and when I googled combinations of wisconsin and ROTC and bomb or burn I only got Kent State again. Check wisconsin and math and bomb and you’ll find it.
Ah. You’re right, I was making an inference that was not there:
My mind just connected the ROTC from the previous sentence with the U-W in the next one. Thanks.
(source)
That is true. I have heard it a couple of times, at least. And it is also true that we stole their kegs. Many times. Suckas!
are you sure you aren’t just remembering Columbia or some other ROTC?
Nothing more fun than stealth keg theft.
Hatch sounds exactly like george yesterday. Could it be from Rove?
integrity integrity integrity integrity integrity
to put the baby boomers into the prisons they so evilly evaded during Vietnam?
Hatch: went further than legall and ethically bound to do …
I’ve tried to do that on my time on the bench
Hatch: You recused yourself when the issue was right / even though ethics experts said you didn’t need to
Hatch: YOU WENT ABOVE AND BEYOND your legal ethics here! YOU DA MAN!
Hatch: No legislative experience — your experience in exec branch may prejudice you towards that branch ….
4th amendment barred a suspicion-less drug test …
Alito: Habeas case on murder case — there’d been racial discrimination in selection of jury — we reversed
(Alito thinking: I can talk without notes just like Roberts! Woohoo!0
because I haven’t the guts for this.
I watched him answer an entirely imaginary question in response to something S.P.E.C.T.R.E. asked, and I’ve now stumbled across several of his remarks about the anti-Vietnam war period and people, and I have a worse feeling about this man than anyone who’s come into politics I can remember.
I can’t even think of a location I want him held.
He definitely hates the baby boomers that came of age in the 60’s.
Hatch: Look you silly ass, I’m setting you up for the right answer and all you can do is drone on and on about your cases so let me but in here and say what needs to be said
I NEED A SUB at 8:30 am PT for one-half hour.
exp on bench has reinforced for him the impotance of appellate process … reading the briefs, engaging the arguments, having an open mind …
blah blah baloney and ham lots of mayo on wry please
Hatch: How does this apply to SCOTUS?
Alito: Court of last resort. Have to make sure you get it right … have to FOLLOW the Constitution and follow the laws … stare decisis … SCOTUS uses power sparingly (BUSH V GORE, YOU TWIT)
limited authority of review — and it’s important to stay within the BOUNDS THAT CONGRESS GIVES US
–> NSA — and FISA? HUH?
(15-minute break now)
Thanks from the cube bound…no audio streaming at work and can’t get radio reception for KPFA….
Thanks to Susan and Booman and everyone contributing….