Monday, October 31, 2005
Alito
I don’t know that I’m negative, so much as skeptical. I’ll wait a bit before I fall over myself in glee. We’ve got no real reason to believe that we’re getting what we think we’re getting here until we have more information. After all, Roberts looked like at least a nominal conservative until Schumer asked him about the Commerce Clause. At least we have some evidence that Alito won’t read that as broadly as Roberts apparently does. But the cases that everybody’s talking about this morning as proof that Alito is one brand of judge or another aren’t the whole story, and I’ll hold back from further commentary until we get a fuller picture of where this guy is coming from.
(Or until I do, anyway. It takes me a while to sort through the opinions about the opinions. Half the problem is figuring out what any given person means by “conservative,” but that’s something of a side issue, even if half the entertainment value of the Miers nomination was discovering just how many people think it means “will vote the way we want her to.” Pardon me if I’m also skeptical of a candidate getting effusive praise from those corners. Of course, to me “conservative” in this context tends to mean “has actually read the damned Constitution and appears to have understood the thing” so I’m probably never the right person to ask about judicial appointments. Heh.)