Scalito, the Extremist
Reacting to extreme-Right-Wing unhappiness with Miers, President Bush appointed its darling, Samuel Alito, who is an activist catering to angry white men, an extremist in the mode of Justice Antonin Scalia, which is why he is called Scalito. Like Scalia, Alito is an originalist; in practical terms it means he wants to overturn Roe vs. Wade, cut back civil rights and environmental regulations and usher in an era of laissez faire. Scalia is not a mainstream coservative. He is a far-, far-Right conservative - a dangerous extremist.
It's a pretty sure bet that Alito would vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the ruling that protects a woman who has an abortion. Alito was one of 3 judges in the 3rd Circuit, which heard Planned Parenthood v. Casey, that struck down a Pennsylvania law that required women seeking abortions to inform their husbands. Alito was the lone dissenter.
Why inform? This would give her husband the right to prevent the abortion from happening. It's another way of having the wife seek or beg for permission. It is a recognition of the old conservative idea that the husband is boss. Like many angry white men, Alito apparently feels feminism has gone too far and must be reined in.
Luckily, the case went on to the Supreme Court, which reaffirmed Roe v. Wade in a 6-3 decision. The 3 dissenters were the 3 far-Right Justices Thomas, Scalia and Rehnquist.
Judge Luttig, another far-Right conservative who competed for the judicial nomination, later referred to this Supreme Court decision as
"a decision of super-stare decisis with respect to a woman's fundamental right to choose whether or not to proceed with a pregnancy."
This means that he would not have voted as Alito did because he thinks Roe vs. Wade is too big a precedent.
Alito's stance on abortion shows that he is not an originalist nor a strict constructionist. He wants to take "settled law" and get rid of it. Where does he find anything in the Constitution that states that abortion should be illegal? The establishment clause says
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
Some religions forbid abortion. Some religions allow abortion. A strict constructionist would say that it's unconstitutional for the government to say anything about abortion.
Alito is an activist judge.
Abortion is not the only thing Alito would change. He is against the Family and Medical Leave Act. He ruled in favor of race-based discrimination. He ruled that Congress has no right to regulate machine guns. He is a member of the "Constitution in Exile," which is described this way by Cass R. Sunstein:
"'Constitution in Exile'--the Constitution as it existed in 1932, before President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. Under this Constitution, the powers of the national government were sharply limited. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, not to mention the Civil Rights Act of 1964, would have been impermissible. Under the Constitution in Exile, rights to have recourse against discrimination, and to protection of privacy, were minimal. A far more significant right was freedom of contract, which threw minimum-wage legislation into constitutional doubt. The Supreme Court tends to move slowly, and under a second Bush term, it would not adopt the Constitution of 1932; but it would probably move in that direction."
Alito is more of an extremist than Scalia. Legal scholar Jonathan Turley says so:
"There will be no one to the right of Sam Alito on this Court."
Scalito is an extremist to be shunned.
