News

By Steve Jalsevac

November 2, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Today’sÂupdate is thankfully much briefer than those of the past few days. Especially interesting is Mathew Franck’s comment, probably thought, but not voiced by many, that the Miers fracas almost seemed pre-arranged to smooth the way for the real nominee – Alito.

Miers Helped Alito – Matthew J. Franck – National Review
It all could have been a strategy. It wasn’t. But it would have worked as one. Samuel Alito was probably bound for confirmation anyway, but his path has been made measurably smoother by the fracas over Harriet Miers. …this president has shown an uncanny knack for recovering from his own mistakes, and turning defeat into triumph. It looks like he has done it again, this time with a reversal of field that makes his prior error of judgment look like it was made by a different person altogether, but that also turns that mistake to good effect.
https://www.nationalreview.com/comment/franck200511020835.asp

In 3 of 4 cases, Supreme Court nominee Alito voted on the side of abortion rights
https://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1102/p01s04-usju.html

Alito’s colleagues said he ignored precedent
https://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/11/02/alitos_colleagues_said_he_ignored_precedent/

Judge Samuel Alito worthy of support – American Life League
https://www.all.org/news/051101.htm

Judge Alito: President Bush’s triumph
  All it took was one brilliant stroke for President Bush to win back his base, shift the news focus and restore hope to his beleaguered presidency. Alito is the judge true constitutionalists have been waiting for. He is no enigma. He reads the Constitution as it was meant when it was written, and he is not afraid to challenge precedent.
https://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/benshapiro/2005/11/02/173918.html

Nominee Has Some Unexpected Supporters From Liberals
  Liberals who have worked with Samuel A. Alito Jr. say he is fair, not a rigid ideologue…a surprising number of liberal-leaning judges and ex-clerks say they support his elevation to the Supreme Court.
  Those who have worked alongside him say he was neither an ideologue nor a judge with an agenda, conservative or otherwise. They caution against attaching a label to Alito.
“I am a Democrat who always voted Democratic, except when I vote for a Green candidate — but Judge Alito was not interested in the ideology of his clerks,” he said. “He didn’t decide cases based on ideology, and his record was not extremely conservative.”
  If he is going to be like anyone on the court now, it will be John Roberts,” the new chief justice.
https://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-legal2nov02,0,4962703.story?coll=la-home-nation

Fr Richard Neuhaus on Obligations of a Catholic Judge
  I’ve been telling reporters who call that a Catholic judge is obliged to rule according to the Constitution, not the teachings of the Church.. A judge is solemnly pledged to uphold the Constitution. With very few exceptions, this comes down to determining whether a specific law is constitutional. The judge’s moral duty—whether he be Catholic, Protestant, or atheist—is to make that determination honestly, conscientiously, and in light of the facts of the case before him. No matter how restrained and modest may be a judge’s understanding of his task, there are instances when moral judgment comes into play. His decision will then be influenced by natural law, which is not a peculiarly Catholic doctrine. The Catholic Church has been a defender of natural law, but an understanding of natural law is firmly grounded in the American founding, and therefore part of the original understanding of the Constitution.
https://www.firstthings.com/

Senate Democrats pushed on Tuesday for a 2006 date for hearings on Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito
https://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051102/WIRE/211020303/1117/news