In a 58-42 vote, Samuel Alito was confirmed to be the new U.S. Supreme Court justice. Adios, Sandra Dee. From the AP:
All but one of the Senate’s majority Republicans voted for his confirmation, while all but four of the Democrats voted against Alito.
That is the smallest number of senators in the party opposing a president to support a Supreme Court justice in modern history. Chief Justice John Roberts got 22 Democratic votes last year, and Justice Clarence Thomas — who was confirmed in 1991 on a 52-48 vote — got 11 Democratic votes.
Alito watched the final vote from the White House’s Roosevelt Room with his family. He was to be sworn in by Roberts at the Supreme Court in a private ceremony later in the day, in plenty of time for him to appear with President Bush at the State of the Union speech Tuesday evening.
I have no strong feelings about Alito’s confirmation one way or another. But I’m curious about what he allegedly told Senator Diane Feinstein back in November about his “the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion” statement made in 1985:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., an abortion rights supporter and the only woman on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said she asked the conservative judge about a document released Monday showing Alito in 1985 telling the Reagan administration he was particularly proud to help argue that “the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.”“He said first of all it was different then,” she said. “He said, ‘I was an advocate seeking a job, it was a political job and that was 1985. I’m now a judge, I’ve been on the circuit court for 15 years and it’s very different. I’m not an advocate, I don’t give heed to my personal views, what I do is interpret the law.’” (Source)
Interpreting the law and leaving aside personal feelings are exactly what justices are supposed to do, but child killing is not a constitutional right or “personal feelings” issue, so Alito made a true statement back then. The “right of privacy” concept was something the Supreme Court made up in 1973. There is no language or idea in the Constitution that gives anyone the right to do whatever they want with their bodies. There are no such things as absolute rights or absolute freedom.
Limits are placed on all of us in various ways to protect others specifically and the rule of law (i.e., the country) generally. Why Alito backtracked is a mystery. But I used the word allegedly because we don’t know what he actually said to Feinstein or what USA Today left out of the story.
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(AFP photo)
Update (1:17 p.m.): He’s been sworn in. The thing is done.
