A PRESIDENT'S JUSTICE

I’ve been wanting to write about Judge Alito. I’ve been waiting for the dust to settle, for the articles to start trickling in. And they have slowed down a little. It seems the press has dug out all the relevant points about this nominee.

For me, things are pretty clear. Judge Alito is undeniably experienced; he’s got the right academic credentials; he is a man, and he doesn’t come across as a Bush loyalist. He is intelligent, hard-working, well-educated, impersonal, formal and unsympathetic. His is a conservative nature, and to the reports that he appears to be no ideologue, I ask: what does it matter? Ideology, nature? The end result is the same. I say Alito would very likely let his conservative nature/ideology be his guide while in the Supreme Court.

He has opposed abortion in several occasions. There’s a remarkably extensive paper trail indicating that this nominee is not pro-choice - quite the contrary. Even his mother has said that of course he is against abortion.

If confirmed, Alito will be one more Catholic in the Supreme Court - a potentially tremendous boost to Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia, Thomas and Kennedy (the latter though was part of the 5-4 majority that reaffirmed Roe v. Wade in 1992). It is interesting to note that although Catholics only make about 24% of the United States population, the confirmation of Alito would bring the percentage of Catholic justices in this Supreme Court to 56%.

Since El Presidente’s second term is more and more fragile with each passing day, Alito’s nomination saved some face for him. Instead of tacking the real issues behind his copious failures, El Presidente hid once again behind the conservatives who put him in the White House. El Presidente’s legacy? Intelligent design, Iraq, the ascension of Christian conservatives, the handling of Katrina’s aftermath, the Plame Affair…

With a president like this, who needs enemies? With justices like these... ?