The Daily Background
| Alito Roundup
by Arlen Parsa
While his confirmation hearings aren’t set to begin until the 9th of this month (Monday), the papers and the blogs are buzzing with Alito related stuff. Here’s a general roundup of print news and the blogs.
The General Story
-AP has an article out entitled “What to Expect From Alito Hearings,” which would be a good read if you haven’t been following the story (and admittedly, it has been out of the news for a few weeks, as shall we say, other things have taken precedence). More here.
- CSM just published another forward looking article entitled “How Alito would shift high court on key issues,” which is certainly worth a read.
Who’s Against Him
- Both the NAACP, and the National Urban League have come out solidly against the President’s nominee, the latter writing in a press release dated yesterday:
… throughout his legal career, Judge Alito has consistently interpreted the Constitution and laws in a manner that undermines civil rights, equality of opportunity and social justice.
The Faith Angle
- WSJ is reporting that three Christian ministers have snuck into the Alito’s hearing room to bless the seats:
Insisting that God “certainly needs to be involved” in the Supreme Court confirmation process, three Christian ministers today blessed the doors of the hearing room where Senate Judiciary Committee members will begin considering the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito on Monday.
Capitol Hill police barred them from entering the room to continue what they called a consecration service. But in a bit of one-upsmanship, the three announced that they had let themselves in a day earlier, touching holy oil to the seats where Judge Alito, the senators, witnesses, Senate staffers and the press will sit, and praying for each of the 13 committee members by name.
- Meanwhile, you can read about Evangelical Christian leader Pat Robertson thinks about the nomination here.
The Abortion & NSA Wiretapping Angle
Several blogs took note recently when it came out that the President’s nominee supported overturning Roe v. Wade in 1985, as well as advocated domestic wiretaps during the Regan Administration- an issue seen now as being very important, after it surfaced that the President had personally approved what appears to be an unconstitutional wiretapping without warrants program through the NSA.
You can catch more Alito coverage here, as the story develops. In addition, readers subscribed to our RSS Feed or Email Subscription get reports delivered to their cyber doorstep for free.
