Alito Assured Ted Kennedy in 2005 of Respect for Roe v. Wade, Diary Says
On Saturday, Sept. 5, the Senate rejected a proposal by Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to allow an up-or-down vote on the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland, President Obama’s choice to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, on the grounds that the vote could complicate the work of the court’s chief justice.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., a member of the Judiciary Committee, said he would not go along and would oppose the nomination. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the Senate’s second-ranking leader, also said he would “do everything I can to block” the nomination, but he added that he could work with Democrats on a “smooth” way to change the Senate rules to keep the nomination from being up-or-down.
Sen. Alito, however, defended his opposition to Merrick Garland as a matter of principle. Sen. Alito was a member of the Judiciary Committee during the hearings last year on Garland’s nomination, and wrote a brief on the nominee and his judicial philosophy in 2012. He argued the nomination was “about as far as [the nominee] should go.”
As the Senate works to adopt rules to bring Garland’s nomination to the floor for a vote, the most visible opponent of the nomination is Judge Merrick Garland himself, and his aides and allies are working to limit the damage to Garland’s reputation by making clear that they disagree with his views and that they support the filibuster.
“We are doing our best to convince Judge Garland that his views are not consistent with the principles of democracy, rule of law, and judicial process he espoused as a senator,” said Michael Bromwich, a spokesman for Judge Merrick Garland.
What do Merrick Garland’s views and principles tell you?
Here’s what our reporter, Ken Moll, found out in an exclusive interview with Judge Garland last week:
· Merrick Garland is a staunch conservative. He believes in the principle of separation of church and state, the rule of law and the Constitution.