Alito vote, closet liberal or hype?

[wisteria]

I am having trouble believing the AP article. Others seem to be looking at it more positively and think we may have a liberal after all. I looked into this a little and the vote- if he did actually cast one- was basically to not overrule the state court. IMO, not a big deal at all. I think this is being pushed to make us Dem's look bad and to imply that JK and our efforts were unnecessary and unfounded. I can envision several groups involved in pushing this story and having it hyped this way. I would appreciate some opinions here on this. It seems the we shouldn't of attempted a filibuster people are surfacing.Thanks.




http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/13768113.htm .


http://www.scotusblog.com/movabletype/archives/2006/02 /

[JI7]

1. doesn't tell us much, at best

it makes us hopeful that maybe he wont be so bad and someone always listed among the Scalia,Thomas bunch .

but even Thomas differed from Scalia and Rehnquist in a few isolated cases. but he is still a reliant right wing vote on most of the cases, especially the big ones.

now that we do have the chance to hear recordings of the cases being argued before the court , we might get a chance to see where he is going with his questioning.

[sandnsea]

2. I'm a cynic

I look at it as a cheap political stunt. 5 justices voted against Missouri, so what did it hurt if he went along with them. Makes Democrats look like they were howling at the moon again.

[ProSense]

3. Exactly.

The man isn't going to change his philosophy now. The Democrats who voted for cloture also voted against him. This move just proves that the SCOTUS has just been politicized, wnd now even there Rove tactics are in play.

[emulatorloo]

15. or maybe his wife was crying because she had a revelation about him

and she read him the riot act -- "once you are on the court, act like a decent human being, not a republican tool."

(well I can dream, can't I)

[Luftmensch067]

4. I completely agree

That was my first thought as soon as I heard the news. Rovian tactics is right, ProSense. Let's see how long it takes for him to show his true colors. I think it will be soon -- they don't believe the public attention-span is longer than maybe a month at most.

[TayTay]

5. Hype. Voting to put off an execution for a few days is hardly

grounds for declaring this guy the second coming of Earl Warren. He will show his true colors soon enough. This is merely gloating and can be safely ignored.

[MH1]

9. What you said. n/t

[karynnj]

6. THis case didn't have anything to do with the issues

that troubled Kerry and others. In some way, this discussion is caused by wanting to put people into boxes. The issue was NOT is Alito a liberal, but what patterns exist that demonstrate his judicial philosophy.

Even if, long run, Alito is shown to NOT believe in the shifts of power that Kerry described, Kerry (and others) weren't wrong to object for these reasons. Alito did nothing publicly to dispel the perception that these were his views. (I would assume that Kerry in private asked Alito about these issues. ) The likelihood is that his beliefs on the issue of the balance of powers between Congress and the President and his beliefs on individual rights are what the Democrats said they were. To my knowledge, no one (on the other side) said that his views WEREN'T as said.

[Mass]

7. The most amazing thing is the view of some people on DU

As they do for pols, they judge Alito on one vote. I guess he will become a villain at the next vote, but until then, they think that, because they agree with his vote and this is going to erase his 15 years of rulings?

Sometimes, you wonder how these people think. No surprise that DU is so schizophrenic at times.

[Inuca]

10. Unfortunately...

.... a very significant % of people on DU are extremely childish (actual age has nothing ot do with this).

[wisteria]

8. Thanks for your opinions. I appreciated them all.

It's frustrating for me when the media spins things like this and then to witness people falling for the spin.

[ProSense]

11. Very interesting (long) article

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18713

[wisteria]

12. Oh wow, Some of this I knew,but to have it all presented in this

overview is just so revealing. It absolutely confirms my opinions on the nomination. What a damn shame Bush had the opportunity to place both Alito and Roberts on the bench for a very long time.
Senator Kerry, the other senators and us were right to attempt to filibuster and we were correct to stand up for and against this nominee.
The Anti-abortion crowd that went along with this nominee's without knowing anything more about him will come to regret supporting him.

[ProSense]

13. My first thought when reading this

was: this should have been in one of the major papers or news magazines before the vote.

[wisteria]

14. Yes, but it was more important to hear about Mrs Alito's tears. n/t