Justice for Alito

Samuel Alito has a lot to smile about.

The Dems do not.

From the depressed libs at the Washington Post:

Republican senators, aided by 19 Democrats, cleared the path yesterday for Samuel A. Alito Jr. to join the Supreme Court and for President Bush to put his stamp firmly on the nine-member bench.

Let's not forget that Bill Clinton also left his mark on the nine-member bench with two appointments.

Of course, who can forget the many other places Clinton, shall we say, "left his mark"?

The Senate voted 72 to 25 to end debate on Alito's nomination and to allow a roll call on his confirmation today, shortly before noon. Alito's supporters garnered a dozen more votes than the 60 they needed to choke off a Democratic filibuster effort, which would have allowed debate to continue indefinitely.

My only regret about Kerry and Kennedy's lame "little filibuster that couldn't" is that Republicans didn't have the opportunity to invoke the Constitutional option and end the obstruction of qualified judicial nominations by the Dems.

Oh, well. Tomorrow is another day.

Leaders of both parties said Alito, 55, will comfortably win confirmation today, although not by the 78 to 22 margin that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. received last fall. Legal analysts say Alito's 15-year record as an appellate court judge suggests he may be more consistently conservative than Roberts. Moreover, they say, Alito is poised to make a larger impact on the court because he will replace Sandra Day O'Connor, the deciding vote in numerous 5 to 4 decisions over the years. Roberts succeeded a fellow conservative, the late William H. Rehnquist.

Alito won't be confirmed with as great a margin as Roberts received, or any recent nominee.

SO WHAT?

I think it's really pathetic when the Dems try to spin their many, many defeats into victories.

I'm sure the slimmer margin resulting from what will be a nearly party-line vote today will be considered some sort of moral victory by the nuts on the Left.

That's all pointless spin. It achieves nothing other than to slightly boost the sagging self-esteem of the hapless Dems.

A win is a win. The margin doesn't matter. Judge Alito's nomination will be confirmed and he will have a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court.

"I am pleased that a strong, bipartisan majority in the Senate decisively rejected attempts to obstruct and filibuster an up-or-down vote on Judge Sam Alito's nomination," Bush said in a statement. "Judge Alito is extraordinarily well-qualified to serve on our nation's highest court."

My feelings exactly.

The attempted filibuster was more symbolic than serious from the start, as Alito's opponents realized they were almost certain to lose yesterday's "cloture" vote. But liberal groups pressed their Senate allies to use the nomination process to underscore concerns that Alito will try to restrict abortion rights, expand presidential powers, and limit access to courts for environmentalists and others hoping to overturn state policies.

I don't see the attempted filibuster as symbolic. I see it as stupid.

The twenty-five Dems that climbed on the filibuster bandwagon certainly didn't score any points with middle America by kowtowing to the demands of the radical Left nutjobs.

Democratic Sens. Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry of Massachusetts took up the liberal cause last week, forcing Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) to schedule yesterday's cloture vote so that today's confirmation vote could take place.

The debate was largely unremarkable until Kennedy delivered a thundering, ad-libbed speech in which he warned that the Alito vote "is going to have echoes for years and years to come."

"If you are concerned and you want a justice that is going to stand for the working men and women in this country, it's not going to be Judge Alito," Kennedy roared as tourists in the visitors' gallery leaned forward for a better view.

Kennedy didn't sound like a U.S. Senator when he was speaking. He sounded like a drunken derelict, shouting and slurring incoherently.

So what else is new?

But Frist got the last word. "The sword of the filibuster has been sheathed," he told his colleagues moments before the roll call began. He scolded Democrats who pursued the stalling tactic on behalf of "the liberal activist agenda," and he warned that top lawyers may decline judicial nominations if they fear the confirmation process has become too brutal and partisan.

Frist not only got the last word. He won. No filibuster.

It really does take a tough individual to agree to be unjustly crucified by the lying, hateful radical Left Dems.

I admire Judge Alito and his family for submitting themselves to the nightmare confirmation process and withstanding the garbage thrown at them by Kennedy, Schumer, Feingold, Durbin, Feinstein, Biden, Kohl, Leahy, Kerry, Clinton, etc.

Unlike Roberts, Alito will have at least one Republican vote against him. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee, facing a tough reelection battle in Democratic-leaning Rhode Island, announced he will vote against Alito's confirmation even though Chafee voted to end debate yesterday.

RINO, thy name is Chafee!

Chafee decided Alito was unqualified to serve because he expects him to give President Bush the power to snoop into the private lives of any American at any time. He's also considers Alito to be an "enemy of reproductive freedom and the environment."

What a load!

Why does this guy call himself a Republican?

I'm glad he does. Even though he acts more like a Dem, the "R" next to his name does help to keep the Republicans in the majority and in control of committees. However, it would be nice to have a real Republican from Rhode Island in the Senate.

I don't care about Chafee, or any of those blustering but impotent Dems.

I'm just very happy that Justice Alito will be on the Supreme Court for a LONG, LONG, LONG time.