Heritage guides the hearings
January 13, 2006 | By The Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation has long maintained close ties with Capitol Hill so we can take our conservative message directly to the halls of Congress.
Our efforts have paid off: as we mentioned last time, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) kept a copy of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution on his desk during the Judiciary Committee’s hearings on Judge Alito’s nomination. And a Reuters photographer recorded it for posterity (above).
In all likelihood, he was reading up on what the Founders thought to be the role of the Senate in judicial confirmations.
Not only our lawmakers need to know what the Founders intended when they drafted the Constitution. Every citizen deserves access to the latest analysis of our highest law—and now you can get your very own copy.
The grilling concludes
The hearings on Judge Samuel Alito’s nomination to the Supreme Court wrapped up today after several hours of testimony by former colleagues and special interest activists. Judge Alito’s performance before the Judiciary Committee earned him at least one “yea” vote: that of the chairman, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA).
Until his testimony concluded yesterday, liberal Senators questioned Judge Alito on personal issues, apparently having decided that they cannot attack his strong qualifications to serve on the Supreme Court.
For example, liberals spent much of the day Wednesday grilling Judge Alito on his one-time membership in the controversial Concerned Alumni of Princeton, which he listed on a 1985 job application. Of course, after searching all documents relating to the group as liberal Senators demanded, Judiciary Committee members found no evidence Judge Alito was heavily involved in the group—which in any case he repeatedly repudiated during the hearings.
Liberals also pressed him to commit in advance to a decision on Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case mandating that states allow abortion. He fended off this trap by saying cases can only be decided on their merits—and besides, it is not the role of judges to predetermine rulings.
In fact, he said he would emulate the best traits of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, whose seat he would occupy on the Supreme Court. “I would try to emulate her dedication and her integrity and her dedication to the case-by-case process of adjudication,” he said (emphasis added), “which is what I think the Supreme Court and the other federal courts should carry out. I think that is a central feature of best traditions of our judicial system.”
Testimony yesterday from representatives of the American Bar Association effectively refuted liberal attacks about alleged ethical lapses. This testimony was followed by glowing praise from his colleagues on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Despite the liberal attacks, the Associated Press reported last night that Judge Alito “seemed headed Thursday toward Senate confirmation.”
The herd of independent minds
The news media continues its distortions of Judge Alito’s record, making a big stink out of his adherence to the law—an allegiance he maintains even when his ruling might upset liberal special interest groups. The New York Times yesterday ran through a laundry list of disingenuous liberal complaints—a list echoed in similar lists compiled by The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times and USA Today.
So once again, the “independent minds” in the news media all arrive at the same conclusion. Surprised?
In other news
- Federal tax receipts surged to record highs in December as the 2003 tax cuts continued to drive the economy, allowing the government to run a surplus last month. But the surplus was a close-run thing, since the government spent a record amount last month too. It just goes to show that cutting spending is the best way to get the government back in the black.
- Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ), a member of the conservative Republican Study Committee, has joined the race to replace Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-TX). He will face Reps. Roy Blount (R-MO) and John Boehner (R-OH).
- Drivers may see higher prices at the pump in 2006—not because Congress isn’t doing anything but because Congress intervened. Congress has mandated new environmental controls and required that gasoline include more expensive ethanol additives, and this “creeping regulatory burden” may hurt consumers in their pocketbook, Ben Lieberman reports.
- The Motley Fool, an online magazine, wrote that “the entire world—yes, literally—was abuzz” with the announcement of Heritage’s 2006 Index of Economic Freedom, a measure of government interference in each country.
- Thomas A. Saunders III has been elected to the board of trustees of The Heritage Foundation. Mr. Saunders has decades of experience in the financial world, and managed the privatization of American freight transportation and of British Telecom.
