California Conservative

Ron Fournier, the AP’s political writer is reporting: “President Bush will nominate Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, rebounding from a stinging rebuke over his first choice by tapping a conservative federal judge to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, a moderate. Bush plans to announce the nomination at 8 a.m. EST, two senior Republican officials said Monday.”

Fournier further reports that:

Judicial conservatives praise Alito’s 15 years on the Philadelphia-based court, a tenure that gives him more appellate experience than almost any previous Supreme Court nominee. They say his record shows a commitment to a strict interpretation of the Constitution, ensuring that the separation of powers and checks and balances are respected and enforced. They also contend that Alito has been a powerful voice for the First Amendment’s guarantees of free speech and the free exercise of religion.

Liberal groups, on the other hand, note Alito’s moniker and say his nomination raises troubling concerns, especially when it comes to his record on civil rights and reproductive rights. Alito is a frequent dissenter on the 3rd Circuit, one of the most liberal federal appellate benches in the nation. In the early 1990s, Alito was the lone dissenter in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a case in which the 3rd Circuit struck down a Pennsylvania law that included a provision requiring women seeking abortions to notify their spouses.

Apparently this is a great nomination because “liberal groups”, presumably PFAW, NARAL and NOW, are opposed to him. It also sounds like soon-to-be-Justice Alito will be a strong advocate against abominations like McCain-Feingold and the dual Supreme Court rulings banning the display of the Ten Commandments and allowing the display of the Ten Commandments. Good enough for me.

Cross-posted at ConfirmationWhoppers

This entry was posted on Monday, October 31st, 2005 at 5:27 am and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, Judiciary, RNC, W, Washington, DC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.