US Supreme Court Nominees
Two people have been nominated to fill a single US Supreme Court position. The first - Harriet Miers - had to ask that her name be withdrawn after conservative Republicans felt that she was not conservative enough for them. The second - Samuel Alito - is now under scrutiny by both the conservative right and liberal left members of Congress. Both appear to have a litmus test on the legality of abortion. Both want candidate Alito to state - on the record - how he would vote should a challenge to Roe vs. Wade should come before him as a member of the US Supreme Court.
To expect a Supreme Court nominee to indicate in advance how he/she would vote on Roe vs. Wade or any other case that may be accepted by the Court is flawed to say the least. In providing an opinion on every type of case a member of the US Senate is interested in would, for all practical purposes, place a nominee in the position of having to recuse him or herself for any case they provided an opinion on while being interviewed or questioned about in Senate hearings.
What's needed is for the US Senate to look at a nominee's knowledge of the law and its application to cases in his previous rulings. And not just a cursory look, but a detailed look as many rulings come about as a result of nuances in the case(s). An ability to under the nuances of a case and correlate them to existing law is what is needed in a Supreme Court justice. They also need to insure that the nominee will not use his or her cultural or religious beliefs when deciding a case.
1/30/06 ( 293 )
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