Monday, January 09, 2006

Running the Gauntlet

Senate Democrats are sharpening their intellectual arguments and preparing for the opening of Supreme Court confirmation hearings on Samuel Alito today. Democrats are expected to pull out all the stops, including using the threat of a filibuster to try and bloody Alito's nomination.

Democrats have been trying to paint Alito as a renegade or someone who is outside mainstream judicial philosophy while Republicans are saying that he's not only someone within the judicial mainstream, but that the GOP has deferred to Democratic presidential choices on the Supreme Court - as it is the Presidential power to nominate anyone they believe is capable of the position. They point to Justice Ginsburg, who was the former General Counsel of the ACLU as someone who was overwhelmingly confirmed despite judicial views that were well outside the mainstream.

Stop the ACLU has a list of some of the major issues likely to be brought up in the hearings.

SCOTUSblog is liveblogging the hearings.

Confirm Them has more details. The Volokh Conspiracy has more details on who might testify and will likely provide regular updates.

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