aka "Scalito"

Well, if he's anything like Scalia, then awesome.

just how i like my powerbase.

Wow, someone listened closely to all of the sound bites about him.

How much do you actually know about him?

This is going to be a tough confirmation process. Everyone knows that Bush would have preferred to nominate a guy like this from the very beginning, but didn't think he had the political capital to get through it.

All this talk about "strengthening his base" doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me -- his "base" is the least of his problems, and the least of the Republicans' problems.

I know next to nothing about this dude. I did catch some of an interview this morning in which he said something about being in awe of the supreme court building. I think he was comparing the first time he saw this building to the honor of being nominated.

After the HEM debaucle, the hard right isn't going to be able to push for a "swift confirmation process" or claim that Alito deserves an up and down vote on the floor. They're starting out with a PR disadvantage, although that might not amount to much.

It's going to be interesting to see how this one plays out. I smell a filibuster.

I can kind of smell it too... but the problem really is that a guy like Karl Rove could easily make a filibuster by the Democrats look like sour grapes. They already started this a few weeks ago by insisting "hey, we unanimously backed that abortion loving, 12 year old raping All Crazy Liberals United commie pinko leader Ginsburg -- show some decency and confirm our modest guy". Making the Democrats look like the villains won't be too hard.

I believe this is what the Republican base is looking for. They're hoping they have a mutual rallying point after the debacles centering on Libby and Harriet Myers. A filibuster will unify the base and give them a common goal.

Filibuster.

USA Today reports:

Samuel Alito Jr.
Posted 7/19/05
By Bret Schulte

Nicknamed "Scalito" for views resembling those of conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito Jr. is a favorite son of the political right. Appointed in 1990 by George H.W. Bush to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Alito has earned a reputation for intellectual rigor and polite but frequent dissent in a court that has been historically liberal. His mettle, as well as a personable demeanor and ties to former Republican administrations, has long had observers buzzing about his potential rise to the high court. "Sam Alito is in my mind the strongest candidate on the list," says Pepperdine law Prof. Douglas Kmiec. "I know them all . . . but I think Sam is a standout because he's a judge's judge. He approaches cases with impartiality and open-mindedness."

A New Jersey native, the 55-year-old Alito received a bachelor's degree from Princeton and graduated from Yale Law School. He worked in the solicitor general's office during the Reagan administration and was a U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey when George H.W. Bush nominated him to the Third Circuit. His 15 years on the bench have been marked by strong conservatism on a case-by-case basis that avoids sweeping opinions on constitutionality.

In 1997, Alito authored the majority opinion upholding a city's right to stage a holiday display that included a Nativity scene and a menorah because the city also included secular symbols and a banner emphasizing the importance of diversity. In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Alito was the sole dissenter on the Third Circuit, which struck a Pennsylvania law that required women seeking abortions to consult their husbands. He argued that many of the potential reasons for an abortion, such as "economic constraints, future plans, or the husbands' previously expressed opposition . . . may be obviated by discussion prior to abortion." The case went on to the Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court's decision 6 to 3.

Alito's conservative stripes are equally evident in criminal law. Lawrence Lustberg, a New Jersey criminal defense lawyer who has known Alito since 1981 and tried cases before him on the Third Circuit, describes him as "an activist conservatist judge" who is tough on crime and narrowly construes prisoners' and criminals' rights. "He's very prosecutorial from the bench. He has looked to be creative in his conservatism, which is, I think, as much a Rehnquist as a Scalia trait," Lustberg says.

Some observers say that Alito cannot be easily pigeon-holed. In Saxe v. State College Area School District, Alito, writing for the panel, argued that the school does not have the right to punish students for vulgar language or harassment when it doesn't disrupt the school day. "Sam struck that down as a violation of free speech," Kmiec says. "That's not a conservative outcome."

Off the bench, friends and colleagues describe Alito as quiet and self-effacing with a wry sense of humor. He is a voracious reader with a particular love for biographies and history. With his wife, Martha, he has a son in college and a daughter in high school. "He's mild mannered and generous and family oriented," Lustberg says. "I don't agree with him on many issues, but I have the utmost respect for him. No one can question his intelligence or integrity."

Again, I'm going to wait until I've heard him speak for himself before I decide whether I like him or not. The "Scalito" tag is cute, but doesn't necessarily mean anything. I've heard some people say he's more like Roberts, than Scalia.

He's clearly a conservative, but that doesn't mean he's outright dangerous, like Thomas. If he's closer to What Rehnquist was in his latter days, then Alito would move the court slightly to the right, meaning you'd have Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Roberts as solid conservative block.

It's easy to forget that O'Connor is hardly a bastion of liberalism. The right make her out to be far more liberal than she actually was.

The democratic party is so full of idiots these days.
Witness Harry Reid, who questions this pick but endorsed Miers; talk about a downright bizarre stance.
Or Leahy who says the pick is "needlessly provocative", or Schumer who said the pick was to "soothe the ruffled feathers of the extreme wing of his party". Just tell the truth, fellas; "his position on abortion is diferent than mine."
If this guy is an extremist, so is half the country.

I have to agree with what you said about the dems. I am glad they dont exist in a stepford world like the right, but I am not happy our lack of cohesion or our lack of a message. These guys are really just all over the place in terms of what they want or appear to want. It just gets old and makes dem seem whiny.

Did you just admit to being a Democrat?

thats what i am registered. But arent we all just in the political parties so we can vote in primaries. And why cant we vote if we are in party x? Its bs and thats what we should all be revolting against, being controlled by all these old white men.

Pretty much what both the pro-choicers and pro-lifers think about half of the country.

In Idaho you don't have to register to vote in primaries, as long as you just choose one party per election. I've voted in critical GOP and Dem primaries in various elections.

It's better than being controlled by the uneducated masses. We have no idea how good we have it right now.... imagine what would happen if everyone voted. Economic ruin and societal collapse. As long as the law the allows for plunder (economic redistribution), those in power will use it to steal. Let's try to elect the least threatening possible.



Victims of Lawful Plunder by Frederick Bastiat

Men naturally rebel against the injustice of which they are victims. Thus, when plunder is organized by law for the profit of those who make the law, all the plundered classes try somehow to enter -- by peaceful or revolutionary means -- into the making of laws. According to their degree of enlightenment, these plundered classes may propose one of two entirely different purposes when they attempt to attain political power: Either they may wish to stop lawful plunder, or they may wish to share in it.

Woe to the nation when this latter purpose prevails among the mass victims of lawful plunder when they, in turn, seize the power to make laws!

Until that happens, the few practice lawful plunder upon the many, a common practice where the right to participate in the making of law is limited to a few persons. But then, participation in the making of law becomes universal. And then, men seek to balance their conflicting interests by universal plunder. Instead of rooting out the injustices found in society, they make these injustices general. As soon as the plundered classes gain political power, they establish a system of reprisals against other classes. They do not abolish legal plunder. (This objective would demand more enlightenment than they possess.) Instead, they emulate their evil predecessors by participating in this legal plunder, even though it is against their own interests.