Quotes of the Morning: Scalito

“Today the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court candidate Samuel ‘Scalito’ Alito begin. It will be interesting to see the Administration attempt to gain control over the third branch of the government.”
-Skippy

“Republicans say there is no reason to delay or filibuster Alito. Senators who have met privately with Alito say he told them that his 1985 written comments maintaining there was no constitutional right to abortion were part of a job application for the Reagan administration, which opposed abortion.
At the same time, he wrote in a separate legal memo while at the Justice Department that the department should try to chip away at abortion rights rather than mount an all-out assault.”
-CBS/AP, January 9, 2006

“Well heck, if it was just part of a job application I’m not worried. I mean, we can trust someone who lies on his job application to take a seat in the highest court in the land.”
-Skippy

“In it, Alito, then working in the Solicitor General’s office preparing cases for argument for the Supreme Court, said, ‘I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government has argued in the Supreme Court that racial and ethnic quotas should not allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.’
These positions, he said, are ones ‘in which I personally believe very strongly.’”
-MSNBC, January 9, 2006

“I mean sure, he may have said that he believed in that strongly at the time, but I believe him when he says now that he was lying. He has an honest face, and I’m sure that Fearless Leader would only nominate someone of unassailable credentials.”
-Skippy

“One of Alito's Democratic critics, Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, said he saw tendencies by Alito to defer to the executive branch.
‘In an era when the White House is abusing power, has authorized torture and is spying on American citizens, I find your support for an all-powerful executive branch and almost unlimited power for government agents to be deeply troubling,’ Kennedy said in a pre-released excerpt from his opening statement.”
-CBS/AP, January 9, 2006

“Oh yeah, there is that little thing where he said that the President can do whatever he wants whenever he wants. The executive branch has been invoked. Summon the flying monkeys!”
-Skippy

“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.
‘We did adequately apply oil to all the seats,’ said the Rev. Rob Schenck, who identified himself as an evangelical Christian and as president of the National Clergy Council in Washington.”
-Wall Street Journal, January 5, 2006

“These guys crack me up. It’s like the circus comes to town. They always send out the clowns first. And then the punch line… They’re going to try to overthrow Roe v. Wade. Wait.. that isn’t funny.”
-Skippy