How Appealing



Tuesday, November 1, 2005

“Moderates’ Support Sought for Alito; White House Tries to Forestall Filibuster by Targeting ‘Red State’ Democrats”: This article will appear Wednesday in The Washington Post. In addition, Charles Lane will have an article headlined “Nominee’s Reasoning Points to a Likely Vote Against Roe v. Wade.”

Wednesday’s edition of The New York Times, meanwhile, will report that “G.O.P. Reaches to Other Party on Court Pick.” Adam Liptak will have an article headlined “In Abortion Rulings, Idea of Marriage Is Pivotal.” And tomorrow’s newspaper will also contain articles headlined “After Miers Failure, White House Begins Aggressive Effort to Sell New Court Choice” and “A Prosecutor Known for His Common Sense and Straightforward Style.”

Posted at 11:45 PM by Howard Bashman



“Pro-life student expelled by Catholic school”: MichNews.com provides this report on the latest from Sacramento, California. My earlier links to coverage of this matter can be found here and here.

Posted at 11:15 PM by Howard Bashman



“Long Judicial Record Leaves Little Doubt Where Alito Stands; There’s plenty to know about his ideology in 15 years of opinions”: law.com provides this report.

Posted at 10:54 PM by Howard Bashman



“Bush nominee knows judge’s role is limited; Samuel Alito has a profound knowledge of the Constitution and decides issues on the laws as enacted”: Law Professor Douglas W. Kmiec has this op-ed today in Newsday.

Posted at 10:24 PM by Howard Bashman



“Alito’s Experience a Plus With Public; Americans less concerned about ideology or gender of nominee”: Gallup News Service provides this report.

Posted at 8:45 PM by Howard Bashman



“Alito’s record gives encouragement to US business”: Patti Waldmeir will have this article Wednesday in Financial Times.

The Associated Press reports that “Neighbors and acquaintances recall Alito as friendly, down-to-earth.”

Bloomberg News reports that “Democrats Signal Hesitance to Use Filibuster Against Alito” and “Alito Is Described by Friends as Studious, Diligent and Modest.”

The Scripps Howard News Service reports that “Dems mull options over Alito nomination.”

Native American Times reports that “Indian legal eagle weighs in on Alito; Sole case is encouraging.”

And Voice of America News reports that “Abortion Among Issues Facing US Supreme Court Nominee.”

Posted at 7:25 PM by Howard Bashman



Minds think alike department: At “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Orin Kerr has a post titled “Judge Alito and the Pauline Thomas Case” that begins, “Does Sam Alito care more for the needy than Justice Ginsburg? Is he more sympathetic to the little guy than Justice Stevens? Yes, he certainly is.”

Discussing the very same matter back in December 2003, I wrote: “In the past, Judge Alito has been rumored as a possible U.S. Supreme Court nominee, but some have accused him of being a clone of Justice Scalia. Wednesday’s ruling demonstrates that this is simply not true, and that in fact Judge Alito cares much more for the ‘little guy’ than do any of the nine Justices currently serving on the Court.”

Judge Alito’s opinion is here, and the opinion by Justice Scalia reversing it is here.

Posted at 6:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“On abortion, a nuanced stand; In 3 of 4 cases, Supreme Court nominee Alito voted on the side of abortion rights”: Warren Richey will have this article Wednesday in The Christian Science Monitor.

Posted at 5:18 PM by Howard Bashman



“Do not simplify Alito’s record on abortion”: Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Garrow will have this op-ed in Wednesday’s edition of Financial Times. The op-ed begins, “Samuel Alito, President George W. Bush’s new nominee for the US Supreme Court, possesses a far more nuanced record on the hot-button topic of abortion than either Democratic opponents or Judge Alito’s conservative backers want to admit.”

Posted at 4:50 PM by Howard Bashman



“Kyl demands apology from ‘Time’ for saying he derailed Miers pick”: This article appears today in The Arizona Republic. The article refers to a Notebook item that appears in the November 7, 2005 issue of Time magazine under the headline “Kyl-ling Her Softly.”

Posted at 3:45 PM by Howard Bashman



“Voting Pattern: Alito’s deference to established institutions.” The New Republic has just posted online this essay (pass-through link) by Law Professor Cass R. Sunstein. The essay begins, “A reading of the opinions of Samuel Alito reveals that he is an unexpectedly interesting judge, with a conservative record that shows a very different tone from that of Justice Scalia or Justice Thomas. He does not press ambitious claims, and each of his opinions is firmly anchored in the law.”

Posted at 3:25 PM by Howard Bashman



“GOP Senator Discourages Alito Filibuster”: Jesse J. Holland of The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito is ‘clearly within the mainstream’ and shouldn’t be filibustered, declared a Republican who helped fashion a plan limiting parliamentary roadblocks for judicial nominees. Sen. Mike DeWine, who met with President Bush’s latest high court choice Tuesday, warned Democrats he would side with GOP leaders to eliminate the judicial filibuster if the minority party uses it against the New Jersey judge.”

Posted at 2:55 PM by Howard Bashman



Access online the audio from my appearance this morning on WHYY’s “Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane“: My interview appears fifteen minutes into the audio segment (available in both RealPlayer and mp3 formats). The guest preceding me was James Kuhnhenn of Knight Ridder Newspapers, and the guest following me was David Rudovsky, a civil rights and criminal defense attorney and senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Posted at 2:40 PM by Howard Bashman



Available online from The New Republic: Professor Akiba Covitz has an essay entitled “Second Opinion: Alito is not a Scalia clone. The similarities are obvious; But the differences may be more important” (pass-through link).

Law Professor Mark V. Tushnet has an essay entitled “Power Struggle: Alito’s take on executive power is unknown; That’s a good thing” (pass-through link).

Marisa Katz has an essay entitled “Group Dynamics: One factor that could limit Alito’s influence.”

And David Kusnet has an essay entitled “Hint, Hint: The shrewd rhetoric of Alito and Bush.”

Posted at 2:30 PM by Howard Bashman



Available from National Review Online: Edward Whelan has an essay entitled “Justice Precedent: Alito is more faithful than O’Connor.” One of the most interesting aspects of the Third Circuit‘s ruling in Chittister v. Department of Community and Economic Development — the decision that Whelan’s essay discusses — is that one of the Third Circuit’s most liberal judges was on that three-judge panel, and he joined Judge Alito’s opinion of the court in full (as did the third judge on that panel).

Also at NRO, Gerard V. Bradley has an essay entitled “Judging Law: Alito and abortion.”

Posted at 2:14 PM by Howard Bashman



Divided three-judge Ninth Circuit panel affirms dismissal of lawsuit in which male employee claimed that female supervisor sexually harassed him: The case involves, wouldn’t you know it, the television industry. You can access today’s ruling at this link.

Posted at 2:10 PM by Howard Bashman