I F***ing HATE Sam Alito

*DISCLAIMER*

If you are a republican, highly religious, or otherwise mentally unbalanced, I will take ABSOLUTELY NO CRAP from you or your close-minded friends about my opinions. AT ALL. READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL. On the other hand, if you like living your life as you like, without being brainwashed by any group, please read on.

THAT having been said, I can now resume my normal rantings and ravings about the deplorable state of our nations political system. Democracy: Where any two idiots outvote a genius. Where, oh where, should I begin?

I suppose an explanation of the title is in order. Yes, I really do hate Samuel A. Alito, Jr. With a burning firey passion that is fuelled by my belief in individual rights, freedom of speech, the right to privacy, and that the government has no right to know what I think, they'll know what I think if I think they should, and ONLY THEN. Some of you probably call me a dangerous liberal, or a radical, but am I? When those who are called "conservatives" are voting to strip away those freedoms that, in the course of this country's 230 year history(Yes, it's 230 this July) several million human beings have died to preserve? Somehow, I don't think so. Back to Mr. Alito.
He has been nominated by "President" Bush to succeed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to the United States Supreme Court as an Associate Justice. This, many of you probably know. What you may not know is why such a furor has been generated by this, and why I am in such a state(this is, believe it or not, worse than my normal ranting). Justice O'Connor has, since she was put on the court, been a very moderate, centrist judge. She has been the swing vote in a number of key cases, including the (surprisingly still) controversial decision in Roe v. Wade. For those of you who don't know, that's the supreme court ruling that legalized abortion, and the primary reason that Democrats don't want Alito in the court: They fear he'll vote to overturn it, and rightly so, I think.

So right now, I'm sure I've already offended a number of people(I'm a bit late with this statement, I realize. I probably offended a lot of you with my disclaimer.). I'm about to offend even more. The fear of the overturn of Roe v. Wade is only one reason that Democrats are against the nomination of Judge Alito to the supreme court. During the course of his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Alito was asked numerous questions about what he thought of judicial precedent, his opinions on various cases, his feelings on racism, discrimination, and women's rights. A funny thing happened. He never answered any of them. Oh, sure, he went ahead and said what he'd do if one of those issues came up in court, which is to apply a "judicial mindset" to the question to deliver a just ruling. That's all well and good. But they were asking him what he thought of them as a person, not as a jurist. To this, he did not respond. So we go to his decisions as a judge on the 3rd circuit court of appeals.

I don't need to go into this, the record is there. You can look at the transcripts of his testimony to hear what the committee said of his record, and you can look up his record for yourself. Suffice to say, he clearly shows a conservative political leaning in his decisions. Time and again he has voted to allow the government to get away with many things it should not have. This has even included his not suppressing evidence gained by overextension of a warrant, denying individuals their constitutional 4th ammendment rights. In another case, he even allowed a 10 year old girl to be strip searched, even though there was nothing in the warrant itself allowing this. In that case, there was an affidavit attached to the warrant saying that individuals on the site in question might have been hiding drugs, and that anyone on the premises was a possible possessor of drugs. While it may have been necessary to search the girl, maybe have her turn out her pockets, I certainly don't think that a strip search was necessary by any stretch of the word.

And now, we go to that most thorny of issues. Abortion. Roe v. Wade. The most controversial supreme court decision of the modern era. This itself is going to be the subject of my next rant, which will be published shortly. However, that is not what I will be focusing on now. I will be focusing on Alito's sidestepping of the issue. He was asked, directly, how he would rule if a decsions in an abortion case came before him. Instead of simply responding with a direct answer, he spent a few minutes talking about how he would apply a "judicial mindset," something I've already talked about. In other words, he refused to indicate his opinion on the subject, instead trying to placate the panel with a description of how he would reach his decision.

I've no doubt he would apply a judicial mindset, and go about the proper judicial decision-making procedure. My question is whether or not he would do so with a clear, open, and unbiased mind. His record states otherwise. His lack of regard for individual rights, privacy, and his tendancy to favor big business and government, as well as the wealthy, over individuals- the "little guy." This is a surprise. Alito is Italian, and comes from a family of Italian immigrants. For many years, Italians were discriminated against in America. Has he forgotten this, and become the very thing that his parents surely hated? I cannot comprehend this. It would seem that he has completely turned his back on his heritage.

No man with honor like that should be in our supreme court.


But that doesn't stop the Senate, controlled by Republicans, from voting him in. So here's my prediction: Someone, probably a religious group, is going to put a case before the supreme court dealing with abortion shortly after Alito is put in. He's going to vote to overturn Roe. Soon thereafter, if abortion is again criminalized by various states, as I'm sure it will, especially in the south, and possibly the (still puritanic) northeast, then you're going to see a dramatic rise in several things: The number of women and girls dying because of bad abortions, since doctors who perform them are forced into hiding, making the conditions unsafe; a rise in divorce, child abuse, neglect, and abandoned children, as unwanted kids are left behind by their parents, who could have possibly had abortions; and, most likely, general public outcry. Something like that will finally stir the silent majority to action. And maybe we shall truly have the will of the people.


I'd like to think some good can come from all this. But I doubt it.


I bid you good day and happy geekings. -Teh Josh