President’s
new nomination worthy of seat
Sean
Cocca
It has only been a few days since President George W. Bush nominated 3rd District
Appellate Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr. to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme
Court that will be created once Justice Sandra Day O’Connor retires.
Already the opposition is mounting. All the usual suspects are chiming in like
clockwork. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., said, “Rather than selecting a
nominee for the good of the nation and the court, President Bush has picked
a nominee whom he hopes will stop the massive hemorrhaging of support on his
right wing. This is a nomination based on weakness, not strength.”
Most of the more outspoken members of the Democratic Party echo Sen. Kennedy’s
sentiments. Both Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.,
have expressed their disappointment in Bush’s nomination.
On the other side of the argument are the conservatives and Republicans. It
appears the Republicans are nearly unanimous in their support of Alito’s
nomination. They are highlighting his qualifications, which, as one may recall,
was the cause of most of the controversy surrounding Harriet Miers’ nomination.
And he is qualified, maybe more so than any other justice sitting on the bench
right now.
He graduated from Princeton with a bachelor’s degree and went on to Yale
Law School where he earned his law degree. Then he went on to work as the assistant
to the solicitor general of the United States. The solicitor general argues
the cases that go before the Supreme Court.
After serving with the solicitor general for four years, he went on to serve
as deputy assistant to the attorney general for two years and then became the
U.S. attorney for the district of New Jersey.
Finally, he has served on the 3rd District Court of Appeals as a justice for
the past 15 years. It should be noted that when George H.W. Bush nominated
him to the Court of Appeals in 1990, a democratic Senate majority unanimously
confirmed him. Now, 15 years later, the same man is being criticized by a number
of Democrats, some of whom confirmed him to the appellate court years before.
One major concern Democrats raise is his stance on the landmark Roe v. Wade
case. A number of sources have stated Alito is opposed to abortion, which makes
sense given his Italian Catholic upbringing.
But I believe the opposition is hyping this issue beyond reasonable levels.
Since when, in our country, has a person’s stance on abortion become
the be all, end all of a person’s views?
It is true Samuel Alito is one of the most qualified people to be nominated
to sit on the Supreme Court in a long time. But that doesn’t seem to
matter to most Democrats.
All they seem to care about is the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade. They
call upon images of coat hangers and back-alley abortions that shock and disgust
most decent people. But in reality, what would happen if Roe v. Wade were overturned?
If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, will that make abortions illegal
throughout the United States?
No. Not a chance.
If Roe v. Wade is overturned the states will be left to decide whether or not
abortion should be legal.
I guarantee abortion will never be illegal in California, or any other fairly
liberal state for that matter. I do not even think most conservative states
would outlaw abortions.
What I do think is too many people make abortion far too big an issue without
even thinking through what they tout. Even in the face of his supposed viewpoints,
Alito could still take each situation on a case-by-case basis.
Supreme Court justices are not supposed to be ideologues. They are not supposed
to be advocates or activists. Their job is to interpret the law. Hardly anyone
sitting on the bench now has had the experience interpreting law Alito has,
nor has anyone had as much experience in front of the Supreme Court.
The support and opposition for his nomination are falling almost perfectly
along party lines. We are in a sad state of affairs when the national dialogue
in this country is so broken opposing sides cannot agree on something they
agreed on 15 years ago.
People need to stop concentrating on one aspect of Alito and look at the whole
picture. He is an excellent choice for the Supreme Court and I support his
nomination.
Sean Cocca is a senior journalism major.
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