Bush Picks Alito for SCOTUS

Oct. 31, 2005 â?? Samuel Alito, President Bush’s nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, will likely spark opposition from Democrats because of his conservative views.

Unlike Harriet Miers, the nominee who bowed out last week after scathing criticism from both Democrats and conservatives, Alito is an experienced judge who has a strong conservative record. The 55-year-old New Jersey native has been on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals since President George H.W. Bush appointed him in 1990. He has been dubbed “Scalito” by some lawyers because of similarities between his judicial philosophy and that of Justice Antonin Scalia.

Hearing about Judge Alito, his background and conservative credentials, it really puts the awfullness of the Harriet Miers pick in a stark light. If Bush had gone this route the first time, many of the Democrat talking points about “an administration in crisis” would be off the table. Oh well. The important thing is he picked the right person.

To learn more about Alito, check out SCOTUS Blog’s Alito round-up of key decisions

Ed Whelan at National Review’s Bench Memo’s blog has a good piece on Alito’s qualifications.

David Bernstein at Volokh Conspiracy notes that if Alito is confirmed there will be a Catholic majority on the SCOTUS

Patterico says,

If Judge Alito is nominated, the primary Democrat talking point is going to be his dissent in the case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 947 F.2d 682 (3d Cir. 1991). In that case, Judge Alito wrote a cogent dissent which argued for the validity of a law requiring spousal notification before an abortion.

Update: Here is proof that the Alito nomination scares the hell out of the libs. Moveon.org ust posted the following letter on their site: HT Blogs for Bush

Dear MoveOn member,
This morning, with his administration growing weaker by the day, President Bush caved to pressure from the radical fringe of the Republican Party and nominated Samuel Alito to replace Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court. Alito is a notoriously right-wing judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. He has consistently ruled to strip basic protections from workers, women, minorities and the disabled in favor of unchecked power for corporations and special interests.
That’s why today we’re joining the fight with an emergency petition to the Senate, calling on them to stand up for ordinary Americans and reject Alito’s nomination. We’re aiming to gather a quarter million signatures and comments in the next 48 hours.

Can you sign today?

http://www.moveonpac.org/stopalito/?id=6240-4844034-CkXT0CJzaGuWd_MkYbMREA&t=2

Bush’s ploy to woo the far-right could reshape the High Court for decades to comeâ??but we don’t have to let that happen. The president’s rock-bottom approval ratings and the scandals engulfing virtually every Republican leader have broken the spell of the right-wing spin machine. If we all speak up, together we have the power to stop this radical nominee.