Initial Liberal Reaction to Samuel Alito's Nomination to the Supreme Court

The judicial and professional record of Judge Samuel Alito, Jr. is decades long, and merits in-depth study by the US Senate before and during confirmation hearings on Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court.

But it's always worthwhile to hear the initial reactions of liberal leaders and opinionmakers, many who are quite familiar with Judge Alito's stances and rulings. Note that initial liberal reactions are not wildly angry or frenzied, and contain no threats of filibusters...only desire to more closely examine the record of this important nomination.
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From Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), a 43-year member of the US Senate and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, "There are many serious questions about whether Judge Alito is a mainstream nominee fit to fill the seat of Justice O'Connor. She was able to unite and strengthen our country through her careful, non-ideological approach to the law.

Although he is clearly intelligent and experienced on the bench, that is only the beginning of our inquiry. If confirmed, Alito could very well fundamentally alter the balance of the court and push it dangerously to the right, placing at risk decades of American progress in safeguarding our fundamental rights and freedoms."
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From Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, '"The nomination of Judge Alito requires an especially long hard look by the Senate because of what happened last week to Harriet Miers. Conservative activists forced Miers to withdraw from consideration for this same Supreme Court seat because she was not radical enough for them.....

I look forward to meeting Judge Alito and learning why those who want to pack the Court with judicial activists are so much more enthusiastic about him than they were about Harriet Miers."
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From liberal community blog Daily Kos, blogger Paleo writes, "The reaction to Alito has been understandably hostile. There is much to be concerned about. However, much of the reaction has not allowed for the nuance that is essential in judicial decision-making, as well as the role of circuit judges in following and applying Supreme Court precedent.

For example, his decision in the Casey doesn't necessarily mean that he would vote to override Roe, and his decision in Schundler doesn't necessarily mean he would have approved the placing of the ten commandments in a courthouse.

In addition, there are some not so bad aspects to Alito, at least in comparison to judges like Luttig, Brown and Jones, for example. He does not appear to be wedded to any particular judicial philosophy...the way the above folks and Scalia and Thomas are."
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And another DailyKos blogger, MinorIncident, has four interesting thoughts on the Alito (often nicknamed "Scalito") nomination to the Supreme Court....

--" It is interesting that if Alito is confirmed, there will be five Catholics (a majority) on the Supreme Court (Roberts, Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas and Alito). Four of the five are anti-choice (though Roberts has not yet voted on the subject and Kennedy is wobbly), even though the most recent polls show 55% of American Catholics support choice, regardless of Rome's opinion;

-- Scalito- his legal interpretation certainly appears to be closer to Scalia than any other member, though he has not publicly ascribed to any philosophical approach such as originalism. He could be more effective than Scalia in one important way- his demeanor has been described as polite and pleasant, qualities Scalia has lacked. This may affect his ability to get a majority vote- many believe Scalia's temperament and tone in opinions has lost him votes;

-- This nomination will change the nation's jurisprudence more than any justice has in the last 30 years. He has consistently voted in dissent in the appeals court decisions on cases O'Connor has voted in the majority once it reaches the SCt. There will be many, many more 5-4 swinging conservative opinions. Watch Kennedy- he has been trending left the last few years (and along with Breyer interested in international law and law of human rights)- a rightward shift may push him further to left to balance the ship;

-- Elections have real consequences."
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Related Article -- Profile of Judge Samuel Alito, Jr. at US Politics at About.com
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