Judge Sam Alito's confirmation hearings are in the news. One sticking point is his involvement in an organization called the Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP). He was in this organization starting in the mid 70s, well after the civil rights era.
so what's the problem? the organization was dedicated to keeping women and minorities out of Princeton. He was so proud of his involvement that he was putting it on his resume/job applications for the Reagan Administration as late as 1985. today, you'd think that he'd recant his involvement.
nope.
He says he doesn't even remember BEING in the organization. the problem is that he was and lauded it for over a decade. to say he doesn't recall is just not credible. Senator Kennedy was pissed.
"If I had received any information at any point regarding any of the matters you referred to ... I would never have had anything to do with it," said Alito, who listed his membership in the group on a 1985 job application for the Reagan administration but now says he does not recall anything about it.Bullshit. (click to read above)
Outside the committee room, Kennedy was scathing.
"He can remember all 67 dissents ... in great details," he said of Alito and his judicial record. "But he can't remember anything about this organization."
Those judicial dissents drew the attention of several Democrats, as did other rulings over the course of Alito's 15-year tenure on the appeals court.
3 comments:
my biggest problem with Alito is his near pathological inability to side with the powerless over the powerful. THIS is the most consistent theme of his opinions.
This type of thing makes me afraid of the Bush legacy even more. He can't be re-elected so there is an end in sight for him. But the people being appointed to the court now are young and will be there a very long time. And with the philosophy they harbor it chills me to think of the number of rights that we currently enjoy that might soon be gone.
my biggest concern isn't the overturn of roe v. wade, etc. its this guy's utter willingness to give the President Unchecked power in a theory Alito believes in called the Unitary Executive Theory. He's advocated it and recently Bush has talked about it.
After signing the 'no torture' bill into law, he made a 'signing statement' where he said, basically he didn't have to follow the law because he's free to ignore it under the "Unitary Executive Theory".
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