Dem's Call for 2006 Confirmation for Alito

While Pat Leahy doesn't think that Sam Alito could be confirmed by years end, a historic look at the time line for confirming Supreme Court Justices says that's hogwash. Traditionally it has taken under 45 days to confirm justices. Not until the politization of the process during Reagans term did we regularly begin taking longer than that. The link is to a rather large file that describes the judicial process, historically, and looks at the delays at all levels of the judiciary.

While Democrats have been quick to point out that "we're just doing what the GOP did" (during Clinton's term) the truth is they actually started the judicial foot dragging during Reagan's second term. (see page 58 of the above link)

In other Alito News, John Edwards has blasted Bush for nominating him, parrotting the party line that he is one "who threatens our most basic rights and freedoms." Evidently Howard Dean's talking points have made it to all the "names" in the party.

The Washington Post in it's analysis of Alito say's he'll likely vote to overturn Roe v. Wade based on his past decisions. The two or three where he voted in favor of some sort of abortion rights are immediately dismissed by Pro-Abortion groups, because he was following precedent. Wait! Wouldn't that mean that he would probably follow other precedents?