Alito Nomination Goes to Full Senate

[WanderAimlessly]

Will we see the nuclear options?

Alito Nomination Goes to Full Senate
By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Judiciary Committee favorably recommended Samuel Alito's Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate on a party-line vote Tuesday, ensuring prospects the conservative jurist will join the high court bench.

All 10 Republicans voted for Alito, while all eight Democrats voted against him. The partisan vote was almost preordained, with 15 of the 18 senators announcing their votes even before the committee's session began.

Full Story

PF

[leoyballe]

I hope Republicans have the guts to use the "nuclear option" if the filibuster is used.

Just as the filibuster is in keeping with Senate rules, changing the rules or suspending any of it is a valid alternative (I don't see anything nuclear about a simple rule change ) according to the same Senate rules. If 51 senators vote for the rule change or suspension, the majority wins -- a simple and regular fact of life in many parliamentary proceedings.

No US law or constitutional provision requires a super-majority for judicial nominations.

[Digitonomy]

Originally Posted by WanderAimlessly

Will we see the nuclear options?PF

No.

[stbruno]

I wrote our two senators in Illinois. Sen.Durbin's office would not even accept my phone call, and this is the response I got from Sen.Obama's office

"Thank you for advising me of your views on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to replace retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. I appreciate hearing from you.

The Constitution gives the U.S. Senate the special responsibility of "advice and consent" on appointments to the federal bench, and I take that role seriously. As with all nominees to the Supreme Court, my bottom line in considering Judge Alito's nomination is that I have confidence that he will respect the constitutionally protected rights of individuals and resist the temptation to substitute personal ideology for legal reasoning.

Thank you again for writing. Please keep in touch as this process develops.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama
United States Senator"

Bottom line....he never answered me how he would vote...just what he will consider when he does vote. Don't you love politicians?!

[seabird3579]

I like John Roberts and Samuel Alito they are both very intelligent lawyers. I'm not sure we've had a "brilliant" one yet. A brilliant lawyer would have turned Senator Schumer and Feinstein's questions back on themselves.

For instance, when Schumer kept insisting upon "stare decisis" (putting precedence before all other including Constitutional law), a brilliant lawyer would have asked him to consider if those who enacted Roe v. Wade valued stare decisis as much as himself.

Abortion was a "made up out of whole cloth" decision. It had no real basis in our Constitution whatsoever.