Filibuster Is On The Table

Rumor has it that Senator Joe Lieberman has said that filibustering the Alito nomination is on the table.

Good!

We didn't need Robert Bork in the Supreme Court in 1988, and we don't need him now.

I gave Alito a fair chance. I read many of his opinions, and just did not like his judicial philosophies. He, is without question, very intelligent. But, he gives way too much power to the government over the rights of individuals. I have little doubt that he would have been in the majority on Kelo.

I do have questions about why he was a member of Concerned Alumni of Princeton (a racists and sexist organization). Why was it on his resume? I can understand that he may have half-heartedly joined it. I know that I am probably a member of some groups that I don't even know about because I signed a petition here or there. But, putting it on your resume is something completely different. It concerns me because of his rulings in discrimination cases. He so narrowly construes discrimination as to make it almost impossible to sue. His membership in CAP would be consistent with his rulings. There is a reason that Alito was the Reagan's administration favorite person to deal with on discrimination cases and it was not because he told great jokes.

I am not asserting that he is an overt racist or sexist. But his opinions lead me to believe that while he would not discriminate himself, he denies the existence of racism or sexism in the real world (similar to Bork).

He is also inconsistent on the questions he will answer. He refuses to say anything about Roe other than it is open game. He predicates this refusal on the fact that there would be future cases coming before the supreme court. Yet, he has said that one-man, one vote is settled law (even though he has also criticized this in the past) and there are currently 4 cases pending on the issue.

I don't think he is a bad person. I don't dislike him personally, but I don't think he has to be objective SC justice. I just have not seen it in his opinions.

Update: I forgot to add another reason I dislike Alito's deference to institutions over the rights of individuals. We need a SC justice who is firm on privacy rights due to things like this.