SUPREME COURT
Say Anything Alito
Any nominee who wishes to serve on the Supreme Court must accept accountability
for his or her words and actions. This is a basic requirement, one that reveals
more about a nominee's character and fitness for the bench than even his or her
judicial philosophy. It is one thing for White House political operatives to
deny and misconstrue Samuel Alito's history -- this week, the Bush
administration launched "an aggressive effort to counter a Knight Ridder story
that described Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito as a committed judicial
conservative." But it is another thing entirely for Alito to engage in this
practice himself. On three critical issues -- constitutional privacy
rights, judicial ethics, and Alito's membership in an avowedly discriminatory
organization -- Alito has made statements in recent weeks that fly in the face
of the facts, as documented in thousands of pages of his writings and hundreds
of his federal court rulings, spanning three decades. The troubling reality is
that Samuel Alito appears overzealously committed to confirmation, and will say
anything to be reach that goal.
To help make Alito's record clear, Campus Progress and the American Progress
Action Fund today launched "Alito's America, Our Future" -- a national campaign
to engage young people about the dangers posed by the Alito nomination. The
centerpiece of the campaign is an edgy and innovative two-minute video mixing
live action and animation, depicting life in the future in Alito's America.
Watch it now, and spread the word.
SAY ANYTHING ON PERSONAL PRIVACY RIGHTS: Samuel Alito has long held that women
are not entitled to privacy protections to keep the government from intruding in
personal medical decisions. While in the Reagan Justice Department, he stated
explicitly that he "personally believed" that "the Constitution does not protect
a right to an abortion." Yet Alito refuses to accept responsibility for this
record. He told Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) that he was simply ingratiating
himself with his potential bosses in the Reagan administration. "It was
different then. I was an advocate seeking a job. It was a political job."
Translation: those weren't my personal views, I was just lying to get a job.
SAY ANYTHING ON CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: On multiple occasions, Samuel Alito
disregarded explicit pledges he made to the U.S. Senate to recuse himself from
cases involving firms in which he had personal interests. In 1995, he broke his
word and ruled on a case involving a client of his sister's law firm. In 2002,
he broke his word and ruled on a case involving the investment firm Vanguard,
despite owning between $390,000 to $975,000 in Vanguard shares at the time. He
apparently breached similar ethics standards on two other occasions. Instead of
taking responsibility for his actions, Alito has made excuses. In a letter sent
to Alito this week, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) documented six different excuses
Alito has floated to avoid taking responsibility. The excuses are contradictory
and irrelevant. But the biggest concern is not that Alito's excuses are poor,
but that he's taken the time to make so many.
SAY ANYTHING ABOUT MEMBERSHIP IN DISCRIMINATORY ORGANIZATION: In his 1985
application for a high-level Reagan administration position, Alito touted his
membership with the Concerned Alumni of Princeton University. The group was "a
far-right organization funded by conservative alumni committed to turning back
the clock on coeducation at the University." Women were not the only target,
however. A 1983 essay in the group's newsletter, "In Defense of Elitism," wrote,
"People nowadays just don't seem to know their place. ... Everywhere one turns
blacks and hispanics are demanding jobs simply because they're black and
hispanic, the physically handicapped are trying to gain equal representation in
professional sports, and homosexuals are demanding that government vouchsafe
them the right to bear children." As Alito's former roommate noted, "He wouldn't
have put that in his job application if he didn't have a connection." And there
is reason to believe he personally held some of the views advocated by the
group. A woman who later worked with Alito told the Daily Princetonian, "I once
joked to him that he must be very disappointed that women were admitted to
Princeton, and he just didn't have a response." But in the questionnaire he
submitted to the Judiciary committee last week, he "stepped carefully around the
issue," writing, "I have no recollection of being a member, or attending
meetings."
ALITO'S AMERICA, OUR FUTURE: Our new campaign sketches out the future in Alito's
America, where privacy and reproductive rights are trampled, employees are
excluded from job safety laws, environmental, and public health protections are
struck down, and workplace discrimination is given the blind eye. (Watch the
video now.) Students on over 30 campuses across the country already are involved
in the campaign as it launches. The campaign website also features fact sheets
and mock news headlines (spoofing the Drudge Report, Daily Kos, Fox News, and
others) showing an Alito future; and a photo petition involving young people and
celebrities (Robert Redford was the first to participate) taking pictures to
register their concerns about Alito. |
