In which I disagree with the National Review
This post by Wendy Long sends the wrong message: “Senators who vote for cloture today but will vote against Judge Alito tomorrow are silly to think the cloture vote will be a fig leaf for them to hide from their constituents.”
Perhaps Democratic Senators will face the wrath of the KosKids, but at least a “yes on cloture”/”no on confirmation” vote has a whiff of principle. That is, a Senator who votes against Judge Alito can maintain that he/she also believed the nominee deserved an up-or-down vote and that the majority should rule, at least on judicial nominees. It’s the Schumer types who believe that the Supreme Court should be a political appointment that are perverting the long-standing tradition of judicial nominations.
4 comments:
...who believe that the Supreme Court should be a political appointment that are perverting the long-standing tradition of judicial nominations.
AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!! AHHHH HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAA!!!!! puff... puff... AAAHHHH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAA HA HA HAAAAAAA!!!!!
Carry on.
Happy to entertain.
Eric, what, practically is the diff between a "political appointment" and a "judicial nomination?"
In general the dems did not play fair with Alito, but it wasn't near as bad as Bork or Thomas.
The judicial process is/was supposed to be about the jurisprudence of a judge. And maybe it was a polite illusion, but Chuck Schumer and certain Democrats announced that it wasn't about legal scholarship at all, but a nominee's views on certain issues.
A nominee to the federal court would be remiss to answer questions on these issues - and Senators know it. But the Democrats plowed ahead anyway because they simply couldn't attack Alito on his legal acumen. By nearly all accounts, it backfired on them spectacularly.
Senator John Kyl had it exactly right the other day: the Democrats crossed a line that will poison the judicial process. You'll never again see a 90+ vote (like ACLU lawyer Ruth Bader Ginsberg got). If the process is open for political consideration, the GOP will surely return the favor for a Democratic president.
That's regrettable.
Post a Comment