Alito: Right Wing Ideologue?
Published November 02, 2005
Despite initial intentions not to write too much about Samuel Alito I find myself resolved to tackle a couple of issues in relation to him this morning. They mostly arise from conversations I've had elsewhere where people are amazed that I believe he's a good nominee. To my mind there are two things to look at when considering whether someone would make a good Supreme Court justice: qualifications and ideology.
From the perspective of qualifications there's simply no opposing Samuel Alito. Not only is his academic CV impressive, but the reasoning that he employs in his decisions is excellent - it's the kind of reasoning we try to teach students in classes on legal methodology: sharp, direct, traceable, rational and always limited to what it is necessary to consider for the particular case. People sometimes underestimate the importance of someone's capacity to reason well as a judge but in fact it's a vital consideration because it shows whether or not someone lets their ideology and beliefs override the law as it stands. I don't believe that Judge Alito does that; the reasoning in his cases certainly doesn't allude to it. Compare his much talked about decision in Planned Parenthood v Casey (Supreme Court decision here; 3rd Circuit decision here) to the decision of O'Higgins J. in the Irish Supreme Court in Norris v Attorney General if you want to see examples of flawed reasoning resulting from ideological belief. Here's a flavour of the Norris decision:
[T]here is probably a large number of people in this country with homosexual tendencies. Of these, however, only a small number are exclusively homosexual in the sense that their orientation is congenital and irreversible. It is this small group (of those with homosexual tendencies) who must look to the others for the kind of relationship, stable or promiscuous, which they seek and desire. It follows that the efforts and activities of the congenital must tend towards involving the homosexually orientated in more and more deviant sexual acts to such an extent that such involvement may become habitual The evidence in this case and the text-books produced as part thereof indicate how sad, lonely and harrowing the life of a person, who is or has become exclusively homosexual, is likely to be.
- Alito: Right Wing Ideologue?
- Published: November 02, 2005
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Politics
- Filed Under: Politics: Law and Rights, Politics: U.S.
- Writer: Fiona de Londras
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Comments on this articleComments
>>From the perspective of qualifications there's simply no opposing Samuel Alito.<<
No, there isn't. You've written an excellent piece. However...
What's at stake here is not simply another conservative being seated on the SC. We are seeing a "Balkanization" of America along socio-political lines. Currently the Religious Right sees an unparalleled opportunity to foist their limited, highly rigid philosophy on the rest of the country.
Meirs nomination may well have been a smokescreen - the plan all along to nominate Alito after the hue and cry over Meirs reached a feverpitch...
So there is more at stake than Alito's excellent qualifications.
Still, a damn good post! Thank you!
Alethinos
Good post. I think the concern that you overlook is that the SCJ's aren't limited by precedent as an appealate court judge is. SCJ's set the precedent or overturn it as they see fit - whether that be idealogically or the law.
Good point Danielle.
Alethinos
I understand the argument that although Alito has been an excellent appellate judge in terms of sticking to precedent but that, on the Supreme Court bench, he wouldn't have to stick to precedent. Now I'm not an expert in US law but generally speaking superior courts will only overturn settled precedent in cases where there has been a huge social shift in perception or circumstances. Given how recently Roe was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court I don't foresee any attempts to overturn that particular precedent in the near future.
Fiona... The fear/concern is that a case will be "designed" for the Supreme Court, find its way to it via the normal appellate process and THEN the newly conservative majority will have at it. Of course you never know what a person will do once they're let loose on the Court...
My whole take on this comes more from philosophy of law than as someone with your (very impressive) credentials. I have an MA in History of US Constitutional Law and teach part time at local colleges here abouts...
So I am coming at this from this philosophical/historical angle.
Thanks again for your great input! Keep it up please!
Alethinos
Fiona,
This post was chosen by the section editor as a BC pick of the week. Go HERE (link) to find out why. Put a graphic button on your page.
And thank you
- Temple
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Fine post. Not only well-written, but well-cited, as...uh...well... ;-)