The Voice

Topping the News

Speaking Out

Blog

Spare Time

Athletics

Free Box

Morgue

e-mail

Faculty/Staff

Student

Resources

WebCT

Faculty/Staff directory

    Everyone welcome America’s 110th Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. I hope that everyone else danced the can-can like me. You see, I have been watching the news channels off and on lately, and they have been very forthcoming about why we should like him.

   Alito has been touted by Republicans, citing his high marks from the BAR association. Democrats, well some, believe that his position on Roe v. Wade should be a rallying point.

   Now, I know this will come as a shock to people, but I strongly disagree with abortion. I respect that women have a right to their bodies; I simply regard the issue from a different perspective. Before you write letters I would like to go on record as saying I am not calling you wrong; we just see things differently, and that’s cool.

   I visited the Yale Law School’s web-posted results (found at www.americanprogress.org) and what I read shocked me. Judge Alito steadfastly protects the press against libel, protects people’s freedom of religion and for the most part firmly believes in stare decisis. Most importantly, to some though, he makes sure to protect business owners.

   In many cases that I researched, Alito consistently sided with the upper society members of his cases. In the case of the United States v. One Toshiba Color Televisions, a notice of forfeiture arrived at a correctional facility. The envelope, addressed to an inmate, never reached the intended recipient. As a result, he lost property without sufficient notice. Now perhaps we can all see the rationale in this situation. What could a prisoner do with a television?

   That may be true, but what began to put a chink in Alito's armor rests in his reasoning for dissent on the ruling. Despite circumstances being what they were for this prisoner, he maintained that "service of notice by mail is sufficient to satisfy the minimum requirements of due process."

   That sounds like an excuse to deny the guy his rights. If you interpret the law in a highly selfish way, I am sure that it makes sense. I prefer to interpret it as the government; through the mail and detention facility, shirked their duty; then Alito came in to clean up.

   Alito's disregard for lower-tier citizens can be seen simply in his case history. The first case I will look at shows his status when one of his buddies messes up. Rompilla v. Horn (later overturned by Rompilla v Beard) convicted Ronald Rompilla for murder; the punishment given, death.

   As Rompilla sat on death row new lawyers began to look into his case. They found a history not represented in the previous case. Records indicate that Rompilla's father was an alcoholic. Because of this, a young Rompilla suffered severe beatings, neglect (in the form of being locked inside of an excrement-filled dog kennel) and test scores showed his intelligence in the mentally retarded range.

   In this case, Alito said the attorneys "did not fall below constitutionally mandated levels of representation." His reason for this, he said, "Trial counsel had grounds for believing that if there was any mitigating evidence of this sort to be found, at least a hint of its availability would be disclosed in interviews."

   Judge Alito's deferment to police officials holds with his buddy system from the above examples. Alito would have allowed the strip-search of a 10-year-old girl in Doe v. Groody. In this case, he stated officers had a right to strip the child, even though neither she nor her mother's names were on the warrant.

   What was his justification for this decision? He said the majority's narrow reading of the warrant was too "technical and legalistic." He went on to state that he knew of "no legal principal that bars an officer from searching a child (in a decent manner) if a warrant has been issued and the warrant is not illegal on its face."

   Judge Alito's limiting of Congress, and obvious deferment to the executive branch, provides the most disturbing of his elitist beliefs. Alito seems to be very interested in extending executive powers, while limiting legislative. In many cases, he makes sure to keep Congress in its place by focusing very narrowly on what the Constitution says.

   I could applaud his determination to adhere to "the letter of the law" and stare decisis, if I had no exposure to his mincing of words for other cases. Though Alito very obviously stands for the causes of the elite and government, he does have two redeeming qualities. Alito most assuredly stands on the sides of religious freedom and freedom of the press. I have to thank Judge Alito for that; I feel they are two of our most important statutes.

   The addition of Alito to the court worries me though. Once, there existed a creature known as the swing vote. It allowed us to sleep comfortably at night. Everyone that lived in this democracy knew that three Justices existed, which held party ties; then there was the last vote. The swing vote allowed for greater exercise of democracy.

   I believe democracy barely floats along in this world, clutching to the intelligence of men. Democracy feeds on the open-mindedness of men. Our Constitution historically protects people from such a thing as monopoly. This concept allows us the freedom to do and be whatever we want, within reason. But what will we do now?

   I may be paranoid, but I believe that flaunting control and working to control the entire system of democracy destroys it. How can it be open-ended if only one side makes the rules?

   You see, today we have forgotten what it means to work together. The Republicans now start talking about non-partisanship. Are you going to buy into that? Have you forgotten that they just won control over the legal system? Now they hold all branches of government, and they attained that control by a scorched-earth campaign policy.
     
    So you see I believe that the sickly feeling in my gut can be justified. After the approval of Judge Alito the conservatives began to talk about non-partisanship. That just proves that they are like children. Since they have all of the marbles, we can all be friends.

Have a comment? Please e-mail us.