With Samuel Alito’s confirmation all-but inevitable, there are two facts that appear clear: 1) Alito would be a dangerously conservative justice; and 2) there aren’t enough votes to support a filibuster that would block the nomination. Yesterday, John Kerry said he’s launching one anyway. Good for him.
Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts could not attend the Senate debate on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. on Thursday. He was in Davos, Switzerland, mingling with international business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum.
But late Thursday afternoon, Mr. Kerry began calling fellow Democratic senators in a quixotic, last-minute effort for a filibuster to stop the nomination.
Democrats cringed and Republicans jeered at the awkwardness of his gesture, which almost no one in the Senate expects to succeed.
Some in the Dem establishment want to highlight Alito’s extremism and thought the confirmation hearings were largely unsuccessful in that regard. Other Dem leaders fear that a filibuster would backfire and anger the electorate, while raising the specter of the “nuclear option.”
At the risk of sounding overly-utilitarian about it, Kerry’s principled stand should make all Dems happy — the filibuster can help bring Alito’s ideology and beliefs into view, while a filibuster that doesn’t work isn’t likely to anger many voters or prompt Republicans to end all judicial filibusters forever.
The next part will be using this maneuver effectively. The media might make that difficult.
Kerry has a compelling message.
I voted against Justice Roberts, I feel even more strongly about Judge Alito. Why? Rather than live up to the promise of “equal justice under the law,” he’s consistently made it harder for the most disadvantaged Americans to have their day in court. He routinely defers to excessive government power regardless of how extreme or egregious the government’s actions are. And, to this date, his only statement on record regarding a woman’s right to privacy is that she doesn’t have one.
I said yesterday that President Bush had the opportunity to nominate someone who would unite the country in a time of extreme division. He chose not to do this, and that is his right. But we have every right, in fact, we have a responsibility, to fight against a radical ideological shift on the Supreme Court. Just think about how this nomination came to be. Under fire from his conservative base for nominating Harriet Miers–a woman whose judicial philosophy they mercilessly attacked–President Bush broke to extreme right-wing demands. This was a coup.
Miers was removed and Alito was installed to replace the swing vote on the Court. The President gave no thought to what the American people really wanted–or needed. So it’s up to us to think about what America really needs – that’s part of the true meaning of “advice and consent.”
But coverage late yesterday and early today suggests the real interest from those covering the nomination is whether Kerry’s filibuster will work in blocking Alito. Since most believe there aren’t enough votes to support the effort — there’s a reason the NYT called Kerry’s filibuster “quixotic” — coverage has taken on a horserace-like feel, with reporters counting heads, instead of Alito’s policy positions.
Regardless, Kerry is courageously putting himself out there, fighting the good fight. Kudos.