A SENATE SICKNESS!!

WILLIAM PENN FALLIN
COLUMNIST
DOUGLAS, GA ENTERPRISE
NATCHITOCHES, LA TIMES
CAMDEN COUNTY, GA COURIER

A SENATE SICKNESS!!

Last week, like many of you, I watched most of the proceedings of the Senate Confirmation Hearing for Supreme Court Nominee Judge Samuel Alito. What I witnessed was something I hoped I would never see again. What I witnessed was a sickness of humanity, a debasing exhibition of man’s mistreatment of man. It was a decadent spectacle not often found in our history. I watched as US Senators literally struggled to reach previously unvisited depths of depravity.

For some reason I expect members of the United States Senate to conduct themselves with a decorum that includes common decency, truthfulness, respect for fellow men and everyday courtesy. Obviously my expectations were off the mark.

Judge Samuel Alito has a 15 year record on the US Court of Appeals and has ruled on thousands of cases. His ability to rule on a case at hand according to the Constitution should be clearly obvious from those rulings. His intellect and his legal skills are out there in front for anyone who is interested enough to read about them. His qualifications are questioned by almost no one. His character was affirmed by former colleagues both Republican and Democratic.

However, a certain segment of Senate Democratic leftists showed no interest in his qualifications. Their only interest was in trying to defeat a man who will likely rule according to the Constitutionality of the case at hand.

In the past the Senate has generally limited itself to confirming the actual qualifications of a Supreme Court appointee and then voting. Until recently that body refrained from indulging in appointee character assassination. That respected practice was totally abandoned last week in the Alito hearings. The leftists came close during the hearings for Chief Justice John Roberts and finally managed to raise the hackles of disgust among America’s voters during their performance against Alito. It could come back to haunt them in future elections.

Bill Clinton made two appointments, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was the ACLU’s General Counsel from 1973–1980. The senate determined she was qualified to serve on the Supreme Court and approved her 97-3. By so doing they seated a left wing ideologue who has never voted any way other than on the extreme left of every issue.

Judge Stephen Breyer, a liberal of the Goldburg political ilk was also approved by a vote of 87-9 with 4 abstentions. Both Breyer and Ginsburg were nominated by President Bill Clinton. Clinton had indicated he would nominate liberal judges if he was elected and he did what he promised.

George W. Bush told America’s voters that if he had the opportunity to name Supreme Court justices he would appoint people whose treatment of Constitutional issues would likely be along the lines of conservative Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Bush was elected twice and he has done what he promised the voters. His nominations deserve confirmation by a margin similar to those enjoyed by Ginsburg and Breyer.

Chief Justice Roberts was finally confirmed by a vote of 78-22. From what I saw last week those democrats sitting on that committee will likely be among the group who refuse to vote for a qualified man. They much prefer political zealots. They clearly showed they want no one who passes muster with Mr. Bush regardless of the fact he won two elections.

Those 22 democrats voting against Justice John Roberts were:

Akaka (D-HI), Bayh (D-IN), Biden (D-DE), Boxer (D-CA) Cantwell (D-WA) Clinton (D-NY), Corzine (D-NJ), Dayton (D-MN), Durbin (D-IL), Feinstein (D-CA), Harkin (D-IA), Inouye (D-HI), Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA), Lautenberg (D-NJ), Mikulski (D-MD), Obama (D-IL), Reed (D-RI), Reid (D-NV), Sarbanes (D-MD) Schumer (D-NY), Stabenow (D-MI)

(Committee members are in highlighted letters.)

It should also be noted that 22 Democrats voted FOR Justice Roberts.

I expect at least as many to vote against Judge Samuel Alito and for no reason other than he was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush. They cannot accept the possibility that Alito is likely to support adherence to the Constitution. That, in the eyes of the typical leftist, is contrary to their drive to move this nation into socialism.

Leftists insist on Supreme Court Justices who will MAKE LAW from the bench, especially in those cases where they themselves fail to do so in the halls of Congress. That practice must be stopped if our nation and its Constitution are to survive.

The US Senate is no longer very noble in the eyes of this observer. Nothing appears to deter the leftists from their goal of making a mockery of what has been for 200 years a respectable procedure of that once noble body.