Democratic senators in liberal-infested states like California or Massachusetts don’t have much to worry about, but many Democratic senators in middle America should carefully consider supporting Judge Alito. Americans have become increasingly aware that Judge Alito is a highly-qualified candidate and think that he should be confirmed.
Our own South Bay Daily Breeze published an editorial today that joins the Washington Times in questioning the effects of a party-line vote on Judge Samuel Alito.
Party-line vote would be mistake
This week the Senate is expected to vote on the Supreme Court nomination of federal appeals Judge Samuel Alito, a former prosecutor and Justice Department attorney who won the American Bar Association’s highest recommendation. Months of digging by journalists, Democratic operatives and Senate investigators turned up near-uniform testimonials from people of all ages and backgrounds who swear by Alito’s brilliance, kind temperament, work ethic and devotion to the law. Attempts to smear Alito on extenuated guilt-by-association grounds and with wafer-thin conflict-of-interest allegations went nowhere.
Yet only a handful of the Senate’s 44 Democrats are expected to vote to confirm Alito. If this occurs, it will be unprecedented, outrageous and unfortunate.
It is unprecedented in that while nominees have been rejected or faced substantial opposition before, it was on grounds that they were too close to the White House, lacked a suitable temperament or background, or, in the case of Clarence Thomas, faced sexual harassment allegations. It was not because senators objected en masse to their judicial ideology. This is why Democratic President Bill Clinton’s liberal but highly qualified nominees — Ruth Bader Ginsburg (confirmed 96-3) and Stephen Breyer (confirmed 87-9) — won such easy approval.
It is outrageous because it is one more sign of the Democratic Party’s embrace of the blind anger of its activist wing against President Bush.