THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VIII, Issue # 11, January 12, 2006
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
IS THE ALITO CONFIRMATION STRATEGY A GOOD THING?
By Christopher G. Adamo
U.S. SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE HEARINGS ON JUDGE SAMUEL A. ALITO, NOMINATED BY PRESIDENT GEORGE W.
BUSH FOR APPOINTMENT TO FILL A VACANCY ON THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT: JUDGE ALITO'S RUNNING
THE GAUNTLET THROWN DOWN BY PARTISAN DEMOCRATIC INGUISITORS ASKING GRUELING QUESTIONS & MAKING
POLITICALLY BIASED PRONOUNCEMENTS EXPRESSING THEIR OWN LIBERAL LEFTIST NOTIONS REGARDING ISSUES OF
AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW & THE ROLE OF THE COURTS IN THE AMERICAN SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT
FULL STORY:
So, the long-awaited U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Sam Alito’s
U.S. Supreme Court nomination have finally begun. To nobody’s great surprise,
Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee utilized their entire speaking time on the
first day of the hearings to pontificate on all matters constitutional.
From their diatribe, we must assume that this great country was founded on
the noble principles of Church/state separation, privacy rights for
terrorists, same-sex “marriage,” and, of course, the unrestricted slaughter
of the unborn.
Republicans, in response, strenuously countered by claiming that Sam Alito
is not really such a bad guy, and that it cannot be said with certainty that
he would indeed pose any threat to those time-honored American institutions
for which Democrats so fervently stand. Rather than merely refuting such
bilgewater, Alito apparently must refrain from offering any solid
information that might validate Democrats' fears.
Instead of boldly repudiating the very premises of Liberal Leftist judicial
philosophy, present strategy has determined that Alito’s only means of
reaching the high bench is to steadfastly avoid proving himself to be just
such a worthy nominee.
Thus far, Alito is displaying his intention to achieve this by running the
gauntlet of these hearings without stepping out of the bounds laid out for
him by his Republican coaches. This is not to say that he is anything less
than a sterling candidate for the nation’s highest court. Clearly, his
answers to the partisan Democratic inquisitors frequently stopped them dead in their
tracks.
And granted, his successful confirmation appears to be extremely likely. But
as a result of the current approach, it is liable to be increasingly
difficult for each subsequent nominee to navigate through the confirmation
process.
Furthermore, the very question of the true purpose of the confirmation
process, so clouded and obscured in the minds of many Americans, will be
left unanswered as a result of this, its latest iteration. In a sense, these
Senate hearings are themselves becoming somewhat reflective of the
decision-making engaged in by the courts in which no constitutional premise
is ever directly confronted or clarified.
And, like so many questions that have been left hanging by recent Supreme
Court non-decision rulings, the willingness of Senate Republicans to play by
Democratic rules will, despite Alito’s confirmation, allow the Democrats to
remain in charge of the play book. Eventually, they will close any loopholes
in the process to the point that no pro-Constitution jurists need apply.
Perhaps the biggest tragedy to result from the Harriet Miers nomination and
withdrawal last Fall was that those on the Right were largely sidetracked
from the most important issue at hand, which is the necessity of justices on
the nation’s high courts to unwaveringly uphold the word and intent of the
United States Constitution.
Having legitimate doubts as to Miers’ willingness to steadfastly
uphold the U.S. Constitution, Conservatives sought to derail the her
nomination on the basis of her lack of a worthy academic “pedigree.” Though
this tactic was admittedly successful, it too completely dodged the real
factors that should determine a nominee’s worthiness.
Other members of the Supreme Court, such as Steven Breyer and Ruth Ginsburg,
indeed possess esteemed credentials. And both were confirmed with relative
ease, despite unabashedly bringing with them an ideological agenda, codified
in a series of Liberal “litmus tests.”
Were Sam Alito, rather than dodging Democrats' potshots, to relentlessly
confront those Liberal Democratic “litmus tests” by invoking the constitutional
principles they clearly violate, he could go a long way towards ensuring
their eventual extinction in the confirmation process.
Such an approach would not, in any way, violate the rule against announcing a
judicial decision ahead of a particular case. Rather, it would promise to the
Senate, and to America, that unconstitutional laws and principles, if
invoked in his court, will be rebuffed as such.
The alternative can plainly be seen in the Alito confirmation circus, both
within the Judiciary Committee and in the full Senate. Although Republicans
in general, and Alito in particular, have shown themselves to be extremely
adept at jumping through the hoops presented to them by the Democrats,
standards for Republican nominees will no doubt continually be raised.
Conversely, if not called on the carpet for such antics by Republicans who
clearly have the power to do so, deference to Leftwing Liberal philosophies will
continue as a requirement for judicial nominees.
It is imperative that the confirmation process be overhauled prior to that dark day when
judicial nominees are once again selected by a Democratic president.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Appointment of U.S. Federal Judges
Legal Issues, Lawyers, & America's Judiciary
U.S. Constitutional Law & Political Philosophy
The Constitution of the United States of America
American Politics & Political Competition
American Government & the U.S. Congress
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
Christopher G. Adamo is a freelance writer who lives in southeastern Wyoming and works in the field of industrial instrumentation.
He is actively involved in Wyoming's political process, serving as a delegate to successive Wyoming State Republican Conventions
and as a member of the Wyoming State Republican Central Committee. He has assisted Republican candidates for local and state
legislatures and for the United States Congress. His articles, which appear regularly in The Progressive Conservative, U.S.A.,
and on a number of other websites, reflect a major concern with the damage being done to Conservatism and Conservative causes by
the Liberal Leftist faction in the Republican Party as well as by the much larger and more powerful Liberal Leftist faction in the
Democratic Party. During the early and middle 1990s, Adamo was Editor of the Wyoming Christian Coalition's official news organ,
The Wyoming Christian.
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