To Hell with Politics

Samuel Alito ye hath been accused of entering a compact with the devil, how doth ye plead?

Although I support the War on Terror, my political resemblance to conservative Republicans stops there. If you take the time to examine my personal beliefs you will find that they place me firmly in the atheist and pro-choice liberal camp. However, when I look around the campfire to see what my comrades are doing I am sickened to the point of outrage.

Supreme Court nominee Sam Alito has some very bitter critics in the Democratic Party. Radio Blogger is doing a fantastic job of following their McCarthy-like efforts. The partisan attacks displayed during the questioning of the Supreme Court nominee caused Alito’s wife, Martha-Ann Bomgardner, to storm out of the proceedings in tears. This has created some embarrassing publicity for the Democrats and led Senator Biden to declare, “The system’s kind of broken”.

I would like to point out that Biden’s frustration at the difficulty that a handful of Democrats are having in blocking Alito’s nomination is not an indication of a broken system. President Bush has nominated a gentleman who is stoic under extreme criticism and well qualified for the job. I am sorry for Biden and Kennedy that they can’t badger Alito into tears like his wife.

Senator Biden is beginning to wilt under the negative publicity that the Democrats have created for themselves. “The alternative” to hearings, Biden stated on NBC’s Today show, “is just to vote on the Senate floor, just go to the Senate floor and debate the nominee’s statements ... instead of this game where a nominee sits there and won’t disclose his or her views.”

From this statement and others made by the Senator it is obvious that in his opinion the strongest qualification for a Supreme Court judgeship is a nominee’s political views. Perhaps I am wrong, but I would imagine that the most important qualifications for a Supreme Court judgeship would be the nominee’s experience and ability to interpret the law. A nominee’s personal views are almost irrelevant unless it could be shown that the nominee would subjugate his judgeship to his beliefs or the nominee has extremist beliefs that are a threat to any law abiding citizen. Even a judge is entitled to have his or her own personal beliefs in a democratic society.

Anyone who keeps up with current events knows that Alito is personally opposed to abortion. The key to performing a judge’s duties is the ability to separate your own beliefs from your work. Judge Alito has shown that ability in the following cases.

1. Planned Parenthood of Central New Jersey v. Farmer, 220 F.3d 127 (3rd Cir. 2000). In this case he affirmed that a New Jersey law banning “partial-birth abortion” was unconstitutional.

2. In 1995, he voted to strike down an abortion restriction in a Pennsylvania law. Women seeking to use Medicaid funds to abort a pregnancy that resulted from rape or incest would be required to report the incident to law enforcement officials and identify the offender under this defeated restriction.

3. He ruled that the Constitution does not afford protection to the unborn in a 1997 challenge to a New Jersey law that prevents parents from suing for damages on behalf of the wrongful death of a fetus.

Meanwhile blogger, Madzionist, has been keeping track of a liberal judge in Vermont who publicly professes that he has no desire to uphold the rule of law because he claims that he no longer believes in punishment!!! Judge Edward Cashman rejected the prosecution’s requests in regards to a case involving a man convicted of raping a young girl over a four-year period, beginning when she was 7 years old. The prosecutor asked for a sentence of eight to 20 years in prison, but the judge passed a sentence of only 60 days instead.

Usually when a judge presides over a case where a defendant is pronounced guilty he or she gives the defendant a scolding lecture before pronouncing the sentence. In this case the judge decided to lecture the victim’s relatives and supporters. He told them, “The one message I want to get through is that anger doesn’t solve anything. It just corrodes your soul.” I can’t imagine the fear that the family will have when this criminal is set free after such a short period of time, but it will definitely damage their sense of security. This judge’s behavior is exactly what Alito’s critics accuse him of. Perhaps they wish to preserve the power of Liberal activist judges and they are afraid that conservatives will use the same strategy against them.

In any case, the minority partner in any government can help a democratic country achieve balance through its opposition to the party in power. However, what we have here is extreme fear mongering. From the statements made by the Democrats you would think that Bush nominated the Anti Christ to the Supreme Court. Despite Ted Kennedy’s implied accusations that Alito is a racist, not one of his peers or even many of his political opponents believes that the judge is a racist. If you have the time, take a quick trip to Daryl Cagle’s political cartoon index and marvel at the supposed danger posed by Alito’s nomination.

Many of Alito’s critics would argue that the Republicans would act in the same manner if the roles were reversed. That may be true, but two wrongs don’t make a right.

Am I the only person who is increasingly alienated by a political party that I share many beliefs with? During the Clinton Administration I was a staunch supporter of the former President for many of the same reasons that I support Bush today. However, this time the stakes are much higher and the partisan politics are much more self destructive. Hell, I used to think that Joe Lieberman was too conservative and now he is one of the few Democrats that I am pleased with. I just cannot support the Democratic Party’s campaign of fear mongering.