[Supreme Court]

A Scary Halloween Nomination

Well, that didn't take long. Bush spent exactly four minutes deciding how to respond to his Miers debacle. Go with the radical base. Bush's new Supreme Court nominee, Samuel A. Alito is, by all accounts, a radical to warm the cockles of radical hearts. He appears rigorously anti-abortion, but that doesn't seem to be his most extreme position. He looks to fit the bill for activist Christians, and will almost certainly make rulings that will enhance Christianity's place as the religion of state. He is, it barely bears mentioning, a friend of big business--as all Bush nominees must be.

Most disturbingly, Alito's judicial philosophy is activisit in the extreme. In Chittister v. Department of Community & Economic Development (2000), he ruled that Congress could not compel states to comply with the Family and Medical Leave Act. It was overturned in the Supreme Court, where Rehnquist wrote the opinion for the majority.

As a Bushy screw-you to everyone who's not a blueblood white male, Alito has made a number of rulings hostile to minorities, people with disabilities, workers, and elders. Bush, for his part, should get extra credit for cackling evil--he nominated Alito not just on Halloween (should Dobson be mildly put off?), but on the day following Rosa Parks' funeral. It is more than an incidental juxtaposition; with Alito, Bush is actively attempting to thwart the will of Parks and others who spent the past half century making the US a fairer, more equal, more democratic, and more just place.

Okay Dems, the ball is finally, uncomfortably in your court. Now's the time to go to war.