Bush set to mollify religious conservatives today

[livius drusus]

Need I remind you, alphamale, that you're the one who somehow managed to overlook multiple posts of Scarlatti's on Alito's dissent in Doe which you now acknowledge derived a non-existent right from the 4th Amendment even though you posted to him and to others during that time?

[D. Scarlatti]

Originally Posted by alphamale

Whatta YOU care?

I don't "care." Like beyelzu I was momentarily curious as to what data you were using to calculate the rate at which the Constitution has been changed and distorted.

But obviously you have none and personally I think you should stick to your other more effective intellectual pursuits, like making fun of foreign accents.

[D. Scarlatti]

Interesting article on the role "ideology" plays and has played in judicial confirmations:

Professor Epstein and other legal scholars are wary of some of the terms thrown about in this debate. On Roe v. Wade, the abortion ruling that has stood as a precedent since 1973, she asked, would not a "judicial conservative" be a person who would uphold it and a "judicial activist" one who would overturn it? That is the opposite of the way such terms are often used.

"I told my class the other day I have no idea what judicial activism is," Professor Epstein said. "Maybe the best definition of a judicial activist is a judge you don't like."

Ideology Serves as a Wild Card in Senate Debate on Court Pick

And the Senators talk religion clauses with Judge Alito:

Nominee Is Said to Question Church-State Rulings

No hearings until January 9 though, despite Bush's demands that Alito be confirmed by Christmas. Of course he could have been confirmed well before Christmas if it hadn't been for his boneheaded move to nominate Harriet Miers.

[D. Scarlatti]

D. James Kennedy is suspicious of more Catholics on the Court:

"What about having a majority of Catholics on the court?" Kennedy asked.

Staver assured him that the court’s potential Catholic majority - Alito would be the fifth - would not be influenced by the politics of the pope.

Liberty Counsel set for fight over Alito nomination

[Dingfod]

The executive branch has been taken over by Jews, the judicial is about to be taken over by Catholics, I think the next thing you're probably going to tell me the Masons have taken over the Legislative. We're doomed.

[D. Scarlatti]

Clarence Thomas is a relatively dumb guy, says Alito's senior thesis advisor

Billing his thesis as an "introduction" to Italy's highest court, Alito said he would attempt to remedy a dearth of scholarship on constitutional law in the country. While much of the document deals with how the court came to be and the history of its justices, one chapter focuses specifically on the court's work on questions of church and state.

[viscousmemories]

Let me get this straight. 300 theses were lost for 35 years, even to their authors, yet unbeknownst to Alito his thesis advisor happens to have held on to a copy all this time? Doesn't that seem a little fishy?

[alphamale]

Originally Posted by Warren

The executive branch has been taken over by Jews, the judicial is about to be taken over by Catholics, I think the next thing you're probably going to tell me the Masons have taken over the Legislative. We're doomed.

Fool! Don't you realize that this is the final takeover predicted in The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion? The fundamentalists will be given the independent regulatory commissions - or is that something you already figured out?

[Crumb]

What do us atheists get?

[alphamale]

Originally Posted by Crumb

What do us atheists get?

You don't know??? Why of course you'll get sent to the bible school madrassas! You'll listen to tapes of Jerry Falwell until you've memorized every word! Finally, you'll be brought to the pope in the white house to beg forgiveness!

[Stephen Maturin]

Judge Alito's senior thesis is available online in its entirety. Be warned, though: it's a 137-page pdf file, so please be sure to ask and answer the question "Just how much do I want to read this?" before you even consider clicking here.

[D. Scarlatti]

Some Republicans are nervous that if the reorganized Court invalidates its abortion precedent, the GOP will get its ass kicked in subsequent elections:

That's what worries Davis [who chaired the National Republican Congressional Committee through the 2002 election]. ''It's nice to make a stand" against abortion, he said, when ''it's not a real bullet, it's more theoretical." . . .

In Davis's home state, Democrat Timothy M. Kaine defeated Republican Jerry W. Kilgore in the race for governor of Virginia last week, capturing the state's northern suburbs closest to Washington. But GOP strategists were alarmed that Kaine also picked up support in sparser, more conservative ''exurbs" that had been voting Republican.

GOP leader fears backlash if Roe v. Wade is overturned

[alphamale]

Originally Posted by D. Scarlatti

Some Republicans are nervous that if the reorganized Court invalidates its abortion precedent, the GOP will get its ass kicked in subsequent elections:

That's what worries Davis [who chaired the National Republican Congressional Committee through the 2002 election]. ''It's nice to make a stand" against abortion, he said, when ''it's not a real bullet, it's more theoretical." . . .

In Davis's home state, Democrat Timothy M. Kaine defeated Republican Jerry W. Kilgore in the race for governor of Virginia last week, capturing the state's northern suburbs closest to Washington. But GOP strategists were alarmed that Kaine also picked up support in sparser, more conservative ''exurbs" that had been voting Republican.

GOP leader fears backlash if Roe v. Wade is overturned

A few congressmen might lose their seats - big deal. Conservatives will take over the most powerful legislature - the USSC.

[D. Scarlatti]

Originally Posted by alphamale

A few congressmen might lose their seats - big deal.

And the Republicans control the Senate by virtue of how many seats?

[alphamale]

Originally Posted by D. Scarlatti

And the Republicans control the Senate by virtue of how many seats?

Doesn't matter - the conservatives take the USSC supreme legislature - game over.

[viscousmemories]

[D. Scarlatti]

Originally Posted by alphamale

Doesn't matter - the conservatives take the USSC supreme legislature - game over.

Eisenhower (R)
- Harlan (1955-1971)
- Brennan (1956-1990)
- Whittaker (1957-1962)
- Stewart (1958-1981)

Kennedy (D)
- Goldberg (1962-1965)
- White (1962-1993)

Johnson (D)
- Fortas (1965-1970)
- Marshall (1967-1991)

Nixon (R)
- Burger (1969-1986)
- Blackmun (1970-1994)
- Powell (1972-1988)
- Rehnquist (1972-2005)

Ford (R)
- Stevens (1975-Present)

Reagan (R)
- O'Connor (1981-Present)
- Scalia (1986-Present)
- Kennedy (1988-Present)

Bush I (R)
- Souter (1990-Present)
- Thomas (1991-Present)

Clinton (D)
- Ginsburg (1993-Present)
- Breyer (1994-Present)

Bush II (R)
- Roberts (2005-Present)
- Alito (?)

There's your last 50 years. Twenty-two Justices, 16 of whom were appointed by Republican presidents (nominated, in Alito's case). Even you can figure out that that's 73%. Seven of the nine sitting Justices were appointed by Republican presidents. That's 78%.

Are you folks having some kind of problem with something, or what?

[alphamale]

There's your last 50 years. Twenty-two Justices, 16 of whom were appointed by Republican presidents (nominated, in Alito's case). Even you can figure out that that's 73%. Seven of the nine sitting Justices were appointed by Republican presidents. That's 78%.

Are you folks having some kind of problem with something, or what?

Indeed "we" are and have. Republicans were slow, VERY slow, to pick up on the fact that the USSC was becoming a legislature, with immensely self-expanded powers. President Eisenhower often lamented that choosing Earl Warren was "the worst mistake I ever made" - this from a man who had been the supreme european commander in WWII and president for two terms. Reagan engaged in a little affirmative action when he nominated O'Connor, because he was determined to nominate a woman, in spite of warnings about her from party members in Arizona. Bush the elder REALLY screwed up by nominating the infamous "stealth" candidate Souter. The senate republicans rolled over and played dead, when Ginsberg, the liberal-left rubber stamp machine on the court, was nominated. They evaluated her strictly on her impressive credentials, ignoring her leftwing jurisprudence. Although I initially supported Harriet Meiers, I later realized that she might be a semi-stealth candidate. It's amazing how the republican presidents have screwed this up - they are focussed on the events of the day, and someone needs to loudly remind them that people may be living with their ill-considered choices for many years.

[D. Scarlatti]

Fuck me, an actual reasonable, and reasonably well considered, post. Are you drunk?

[alphamale]

I thank you, I thank you!

[D. Scarlatti]

Never deliver a pizza to a meth lab in Sam Alito's America

Conservatives are spinning like dreidls in the wake of a 30-second ad focusing on Alito's dissent in Groody, the PA strip search case:

Fox News has said it won't run the ad, saying its lawyers found it factually incorrect.

Wendy Long, counsel for the conservative Judicial Confirmation Network, said liberal groups were misreading the McGinley case, which was filed as Doe v. Groody.

"These extremist liberal groups - true to their word that they will use any tactic to bring down Judge Alito - blatantly misrepresent (the case) ... claiming that Judge Alito 'approved' the 'strip search of a 10-year-old girl,'" she said.

She argued that the "legal question came down to a technical ruling on how a search warrant and an attached affidavit should be read together."

Actually the legal question was whether the defendant police officers were entitled to sovereign immunity against the civil suit.

[alphamale]

Originally Posted by D. Scarlatti

Never deliver a pizza to a meth lab in Sam Alito's America

Conservatives are spinning like dreidls in the wake of a 30-second ad focusing on Alito's dissent in Groody, the PA strip search case:

Fox News has said it won't run the ad, saying its lawyers found it factually incorrect.

Wendy Long, counsel for the conservative Judicial Confirmation Network, said liberal groups were misreading the McGinley case, which was filed as Doe v. Groody.

"These extremist liberal groups - true to their word that they will use any tactic to bring down Judge Alito - blatantly misrepresent (the case) ... claiming that Judge Alito 'approved' the 'strip search of a 10-year-old girl,'" she said.

She argued that the "legal question came down to a technical ruling on how a search warrant and an attached affidavit should be read together."

Actually the legal question was whether the defendant police officers were entitled to sovereign immunity against the civil suit.

So now the formerly staid orderly process of confirming SC nominations is becoming just like a political campaign, complete with rabble-rousing attack ads. Does anyone any longer doubt that the SC is politicized? That it matters so much which man gets appointed confirms that it is an unelected legislature. Why would people bring up so many political hot button issues, if
the SC weren't a body to decide political issues, just as if it were a legislature?

[seebs]

Er, that's ridiculous. Not all entities that perform politically significant functions are legislatures. The executive isn't a legislature, even though it's obviously politically significant.

[alphamale]

Originally Posted by seebs

Er, that's ridiculous. Not all entities that perform politically significant functions are legislatures. The executive isn't a legislature, even though it's obviously politically significant.

Uh, yer fulla shit. The president executes the law made by congress. His ability to perform even constitutionally enumerated powers of the executive, eg, to make war, is strongly circumscribed by the legislature, which raises funds, declares war, mandates conscription, etc etc.

[D. Scarlatti]

Something must be wrong with my computer. seebs made a post I can't read for some reason.