The Democratic Inquisition of Samuel Alito: Tears, Accusations and Senatorial Stupidity

by: Steve Yuhas

After a heartfelt and deserved apology by South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham to Judge Samuel Alito and his family they left what should have been a joyous and proud time in a Senate hearing room; his wife, Martha, in tears for the way her husband has been treated by Democrats and onlookers stunned at the vicious attacks that pit one man against a cadre of special interest character assassins.  The most recent public lynching, a term made famous in Justice Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearing, of someone who wants to serve his country has turned the average American off, but the red meat that Democrats were looking to throw to their constituents is there; unfortunately, it is spoiled and cold because it is the same old stuff that never works. 

The week of hearings in the Senate by blow-hard men and women who have no questions and merely rant and rave for 25 minutes and then complain about not having enough time to interrogate Alito in order to decide to vote yes or no on his nomination.  The funny thing is - all of them have made up their minds or he wouldn't be sitting there! 

Democrats have drudged up quotes, events and poltergeists from twenty years ago and expect the would-be Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court to answer them to include what he said to whom when he was an undergrad and whether or not he signed on to a letter that would keep traditions at his alma mater stay the same rather than change. 

This nomination hearing is interesting inside the beltway and is one of the most disgusting displays of American politics since Justice Thomas and the Coke can became water cooler talk in 1991.  What is sad is that most people don’t care what Judge Alito said twenty years ago; they care about whether or not he’ll vote to take “under G-d” out of the Pledge of Allegiance or impose on states the never before discovered right to gay marriage – something most of America has already voted on and overwhelmingly opposes.

Probing questions seldom come up - from either side, but Democrats have gone to a new low when they decided (then retracted) their decision to bring in a witness who would kill the nomination then realized that the man who would kill Alito declared killing poultry for food the moral equivalent of the Holocaust and murder of 6 million Jews during WWII. 

Oops.

What does come up is the typical Democratic play book that has not changed since J. Edgar Hoover ran the FBI: will you overturn Roe v. Wade, does the President have the right to do X, Y or Z, can the CIA torture people (that one is new, but only since Abu Ghraib and when Democrats became regulars on Al Jazeera) and are you still a racist, anti-woman, anti-vegan and anti-amputee white man or have your changed your colors (this is an especially poignant question – Democrats should have former Klan member Robert Byrd ask that one).

As the senators of the Judiciary Committee read 25 minute speeches (prepared for them by a clerk) and ask a five minute question (similarly prepared for them by a clerk) Judge Alito answers them in complex legal vernacular that show his brilliance.  The problem is that most of the Senators cannot understand the issues as their legal clerks wrote the questions and the regular American couldn't care less.  The nice part is watching as Alito talks and Senators sitting in judgment of the man shuffle their papers, pose for the cameras and check their Blackberries for any invitation to any evening talk show that invites them (want to see your Senator?  Tell them you're from Al Jazeera).

Why pay attention to the answer to a question you ask when you already know how you’re going to vote?

The Senate confirmation process has gone from bad to worse and there is little chance it will ever get any better.  Considering the way Judge Alito has been treated and the precedent that the Senate created during Justice Thomas’ hearings, but what else is new with the hypocrisy of some people in the Senate? 

Precedent is a funny thing – Judge Alito must decide today whether or not in 2015 if he will rule that partial birth abortion constitutional, but the precedent to treat people well who want to serve their country has long left what used to be a dignified process.  Confirmation hearings have been replaced with rude, insincere character assassination and it is a shame for all of the good people who would be willing to serve were it not for the Chuck Schumers of the Senate.

Judge Alito will continue to be called a racist and woman hater who attended Princeton and Yale Law School and may not interpret the Constitution the same way that Chuck Schumer or Maxine Waters (imagine her a Senator - OY!) would and his family will continue to endure attacks on his character that have little to do with whether or not he will be a good Justice, but eventually they will be able to hold their heads up high as he wears the robe of an Associate Justice of the United States. 

One thing the American people can be sure about when it comes to Judge Alito is that he knows the law – not once has he become flustered or have to refer to notes (something some in the media predicted) and his judicial philosophy is that judges are not politicians and do not make law.  A new concept to liberals, but one entrenched in the Founding Father’s decision to include a Supreme Court: judges decide whether or not laws are Constitutional. 

It is not for a judge to decide whether a law is a good law or a smart law – it is their responsibility to determine whether the law violates the sacred document that makes America what it is (the kind of place that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals would have us looking like).

Democrats complained in their radio address last week that lobbyists have taken over Washington, D.C. (I guess lobbying is a new trend and there were no lobbyists when Democrats ran things as recently as President Bush’s first term) and are too involved in the legislative process.  One should really inquire of these same Democrats if they’re just as upset about lobbyists and special interest groups taking over the nomination of Judge Alito to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. 

Every question posed by a Democrat on their elevated pulpit has been faxed, emailed or talked about by a Democratic operative or interest group on any of the cable news shows and to anyone who attends the press conferences held almost daily by another group opposed to Judge Alito. 

When Senator Kennedy stumbles into the hearing room (drunk with a napkin in his suit jacket with scribbled questions he is instructed to pose that he received during breakfast from a member of the Council for American Islamic Relations or the National Education Association) it is considered completely proper.  Outside of the fact that breathalyzers should be required for any Senator who is questioning someone for a position on the highest court in the United States – how is it any different than lobbyists talking to members of Congress for any other reason?

It isn’t.

If Justice Thomas was not reason enough it is now clearer than ever why so many people have gone from coveting a job that required Senate confirmation to dreading it.  There was a time when the rules of the Senate and the dignity and manners of individual Senators kept the nomination of learned men and women from turning into a circus of crude and vicious attacks about whether or not someone hates blacks, Jews, Hispanics, gays, women or dogs.

Democrats might as well just ask Alito if he is still beating his wife or molesting his children.  The same thing is happening – damned if he does; damned if he doesn’t for a group of people who simply want to pound their desk and get the headline.

There is little question that Judge Alito will soon be Justice Alito and the Supreme Court, the last vestige of hope for liberal causes that cannot pass muster with the American people the old fashioned way (by voting on it), will begin to sway, at least nominally, to the institution it was set up to be: the place that uses the authority of the bench to keep a final check on the liberty of the American people.  Until now Sandra Day O’Connor has used the bench to tilt the balance into whatever pet project she decided was popular at the time, but the Supreme Court should not be run with public opinion polls.

It will be a pleasure to watch as Sam Alito is sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court and for the next retirement announcement to come in so we can begin this whole circus again.  In the future it would do Democrats well to listen to their own advice and not allow special interest groups and lobbyists to write things out for them: Joseph Biden did it and forgot that he hated Princeton one day and loved it another.

I demand a hearing!

Steve Yuhas is a columnist and radio talk show host on KOGO AM 600 and may be reached at www.steveyuhas.com or steve@steveyuhas.com