| Published: Waubonsee Insight |
| Date: February 2006 |
| Section: News |
| Comments: Interestingly, after I wrote this News piece, one of my writers saw the copy in the layout and got so angry about it that they wrote an Opinion rebuttal...to a News story. |
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By: Ian Essling
Samuel Alito, President Bush's nominee to replace retiring justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, has won the support of just over half the US Senate, and was confirmed early Tuesday afternoon.
Alito, who is often called a "mainstream conservative," will become the nation's 110th Supreme Court Justice.
The Senate Judiciary committee voted along straight party lines to send Alito's nomination to the full senate, with 10 Republicans voting for confirmation and 8 Democrats voting against.
A party line vote was expected for the full Senate as well, a development that Judiciary committee chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) said he would be "sorry" to see, but given the current political atmosphere in Washington, it would not be not a surprising turn of events.
Supreme Court nominees normally receive strong bi-partisan support, however, most Senate Democrats have aggressively opposed President Bush's nominees.
It was almost guaranteed that all 55 Republicans would vote for Alito's confirmation, meaning that Democrats will be forced to take drastic measures if they are to slow or halt the appointment. The word filibuster has been floating around for the past few days, but most experts agree that it will not change this situation. Alito enjoyed the support of about 58 Senators, making the confirmation one of the closest in history.
Alito's confirmation will be historic; he will join fellow Catholic Justices John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy, to create the first Catholic majority ever seen on the Supreme Court.
While this has many liberal activist groups opposed to this development, others hail the appointment (and possible right-ward shift of the Court) as evidence that America is continuing to become more conservative.
Polls conducted around the 2004 Presidential race showed that many Americans are more concerned with moral issues then in years past.
Approximately 25% of the US population is Catholic, making it the largest single religion in the country.
Catholics have traditionally been unsuccessful in political arenas; John F. Kennedy was the only Catholic elected to President.
Alito has made it clear that while he may be personally opposed to an issue, he will not let his views cloud legal judgement. |
