Live Blogging the Alito Hearings

14 Comments

1. 

   mlk19569 on January 10, 2006 at 6:38 pm

   Schumer was awesome!  

   Cornyn is up now…

2. 

   Intellectually Curious on January 10, 2006 at 6:39 pm

   Sincerely,

   Desk Jockey

   • 

     Dean Pajevic on January 10, 2006 at 6:59 pm

     Ride that pony, ride!

     • 

       Intellectually Curious on January 10, 2006 at 7:22 pm

       The visual will have to be of you, sight unseen — you haven’t seen my co-workers! lol

3. 

   wilderness wench on January 10, 2006 at 6:48 pm

   Noted: in discussing oppositional questioning (specifically Schumer’s), Cornyn attempts to turn his party’s ethical issues against the ‘Democrat’ senators doing so.  

   I’d certainly love some of that ‘big money’ we’re influencing our senators with. Truly.

4. 

   Chamonix1 on January 10, 2006 at 6:50 pm

   Agree..Schumer was awesome..but I do wish there would have been a little more back and forth between the two..if there would have been I think Chucky could have tripped Alito. But boy Alito was nervous and really sweating it. From Alito to Bork to Thomas and then back to Alito. Chuck painted perfectly what kind of a Justice ALito will be. Yup…Right up there with Bork and Thomas. Filibuster..shut down the Government..anything as long as this Pathetic Bush Tool isn’t put on the SCOTUS. He will turn America backwards for generations to come.

5. 

   wilderness wench on January 10, 2006 at 7:27 pm

   Frankly, I’m glad it’s over for today. That nasal Jersey drawl is starting to bother me.

6. 

   dada on January 10, 2006 at 7:59 pm

   WHAT A WHIMP!  Gaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!

   Alito hasn’t had an original thought in his entire life.

   If this appointment goes thru, I’ve got only one question: Star Chamber anyone?

   This is  disturbing.

   peace.

   • 

     Street Kid on January 10, 2006 at 8:37 pm

     Really!  Caught a bit of the news yesterday and now I’m  getting sick again!

7. 

   ejmw on January 10, 2006 at 9:30 pm

   but I’m watching the re-run (or at least, parts of it) on C-Span now.

   My impression : I do not understand how anybody can take this guy seriously.  

   So far, he seems very wishy washy on ethical matters.  He has shown me nothing to indicate that he has more of a handle on case law than a 2nd year law student.

   To be honest, I felt pretty ambivalent towards John Roberts.  The biggest strike against him that I saw was that Bush picked him, but I actually think he’s going to slant towards the liberal side in the coming years.  But that aside, he is clearly an intellectual giant compared to this man.

8. 

   BrendaStewart on January 10, 2006 at 11:26 pm

   ethics and morales and standards are something I doubt seriously that the republican party has ever had.  I detest this one man.  I got more cleaning done this afternoon early on, than I have done in a week!  When I get frustrated and bothered about somthing so serious, I can clean up a storm..:o)

9. 

   Pericles on January 10, 2006 at 11:39 pm

   “An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.” — Thomas Paine, Dissertation on First Principles of Government

   At the time Paine wrote this, he was in prison in France. He had gotten swept up in the French Revolution, wound up with a seat on the National Assembly, and then fell from grace when he opposed the plan to execute the King. (Paine wanted Louis exiled to America.) He escaped execution due to a bureaucratic error.

   • 

     ejmw on January 10, 2006 at 11:50 pm

     Thomas Paine should be quoted extensively at the beginning of each and every SCOTUS confirmation hearing.

10. 

    numediaman on January 11, 2006 at 9:49 am

    I’m glad it will be over today because one day of this and no one will vote Democratic for a generation.  The Democrats did such an incredibly awful job yesterday that they have been called out as laughing stocks across front pages.  What a freakin’ joke.

    But Enough About You, Judge; Let’s Hear What I Have to Say

    By ELISABETH BUMILLER
    Published: January 11, 2006

    WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 – The Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. were supposed to be about the judge, but on Tuesday it sometimes seemed as though somebody forgot to tell the senators on the Judiciary Committee.

    At one point Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, was even granted two extra minutes from the committee’s chairman, Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania – drawing groans from colleagues, among them Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York.

    For Democrats, A Most Tender Roast of Alito

    By Marcia Davis

    It was beginning to look as if the Democrats had shown up to a knife fight without a knife yesterday.

    It was beginning to look as if they’d just been woofing when it came to the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. That they’d written a check full of bluster that a lackluster series of questions couldn’t cash.

    There were some deft jabs, for sure, and Democrats did visit the territories they had promised — from abortion rights to executive power to issues of discrimination and the appellate judge’s ethics. But the Dems didn’t rampage, didn’t storm the barricades as all their tough talk had promised.

    In fact, most of the day was so quiet that by mid-afternoon you had Republicans such as Texas’s John Cornyn going before reporters and essentially declaring victory.

    I’m sure Karl Rove was happy that the Dems clowning took the attention away from the Republican scandals.

    I would suggest the Democrats could take the advise of the medical profession: first, do no harm.  

    I’m sure Harry Reid does not have the guts to do it, but the majority of Democrats on this committee need to be tossed off and competent people put on. The next time this committee goes before the cameras the Democrats need to present an image of competence, seriousness and authority.  (Obama should replace Biden, and Boxer should replace Feinstein for starters.)

    As it stands, the Democrats have just let two of the most right-wing, neofascist judges ever presented as nominees to the Supreme Court get free rides.  This didn’t need to happen, Alito’s track record screams out for opposition.  Yesterday, with some rare exceptions, the Democrats did more harm than good.