Congress

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.

more . . .

While Teddy Kennedy (elsewhere described as a category 5 windbag) whined about Judge Alito’s alleged affiliation with a Princeton University activist group, the record was being set straight that the Judge had little or nothing to do with the group.

From The Washington Times: Alito probe is a bust

A bipartisan group of Senate lawyers did not find any mention of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. in four boxes of materials from a Princeton alumni group Democrats have dubbed racist and misogynistic in confirmation hearings.

The search dealt a blow to some of the final Democratic opposition to Judge Alito, spearheaded by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat. He demanded the papers be subpoenaed from the Library of Congress before the hearings resumed this morning.

“Judge Alito’s name never appeared in any document,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, who secured access to the documents without a subpoena. Democrats have questioned Judge Alito’s commitment to civil rights and equality for women because he said he belonged to the Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP) on a 1985 job application.

This is just another example of how desperate Democrats and the left have become. Judge Alito should be through the worst of it by now, with a split party-line vote to take place shortly. Hopefully, the Democrats won’t be stupid enough to attempt a filibuster in the full Senate confirmation (or will they?).