Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Alito, Bush's newest pick for a lifetime appointment on the U.S. Supreme court, is being hailed as a centrist, a judge well within mainstream America's thinking. As I mentioned earlier, Bush consulted with some private interest, anti-abortion groups (but not Democrats) prior to nominating Alito.

The point of a Supreme Court Justice is someone who looks at the Constitution and lays down the law based upon it. The role of the Justice is leave their own religious and political opinions at the door.

As an aside, I know it's popular to claim that this country is founded upon religious Christian principles and so theistic interpolation of opinion is fair game. Maybe that would fly if more than three of the Ten Commandments was enshrined in law. And the biggest commandment of all -- thou shalt have no other gods before me -- isn't one of them.

But I digress.

Part of that role is the fundamental notion that legal precedence has massive influence on the Supreme Court. You'll recall that Roe v. Wade enjoys 30 years of it. It's settled law.

So instead of listening to the talking points of the GOP, what do the private interest groups Bush consulted have to say about Alito?

James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family Action, said he was "extremely pleased," and the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue declared that the country was on "the fast-track to derailing Roe v. Wade as the law of the land."

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