Qualifications and Ideology

As the debate surrounding Judge Samuel Alito's appointment to the Supreme Court began to unfold on the Senate floor today, our esteemed President met with 54 of the Judge's former clerks to discuss his anticipated approval. And as he has since the process began, the President touted Alito's background. "There's no doubt about Judge Alito's qualifications, his intellect, or his complete dedication to our Constitution and laws," the President said. Then, he went on, "[Sam Alito] is exactly the kind of person Americans want on the Supreme Court." Nevertheless, in spite of the strong rhetoric that the president chose to employ, there exists a signifcant discontect between the first and second portions of his statement. Exclusively because Alito is intellectually qualified to sit on the Supreme Court does not mean that Americans necessarily want him there. Simply put, ideology matters--no matter how ardently the President may argue to the contrary.

In 1795, the first nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge John Rutledge, was blocked by a 14-10 vote in the Senate because he opposed the Jay Treaty--a Federalist-supported agreement with Great Britain. Nobody could question Rutledge's qualifications (he was, after all, chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court). He was opposed because of ideology, alone. Years later, the famed Robert Bork, in spite of his glowing qualifications as both a scholar and a judge, was opposed by 58 senators--one of whom was the current, Republican chair of the Senate judiciary committee, our local Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA). Finally, despite all of the clout surrounding Democratic filibusters, Republicans, during the Clinton Administration, used what is called the "blue slip procedure" to slow down and, effectively, block a host of "liberal" nominees. In 1997, as a result of these back-door Republican tactics, Clinton was forced to declare a "vacancy crisis" when one in ten seats of the federal judiciary were left vacant. When Clinton left office in 2001, 42 of his nominees remained unconfirmed--38 of whom never received a hearing. All of these nominees were blocked solely because of Republicans' opposition to their liberal ideology. They have some nerve, then, to criticize Democratic oppostion to Mr. Alito.

President Bush is right; Sam Alito is, without question, a qualified nominee. But his opposition to Roe v. Wade, his history on minority rights, and his theories on Executive authority should give us pause. And as history shows, those ideological reservations are grounds enough to oppose him.

--Rebecca