Judicial hearings...
...are far too tedious for their own good. And just for the record--since everything this week is for the record--I'm really getting sick of senators carrying on for half an hour under the guise of asking a question. Don't they stop lawyers from such posturing in court? Why can't we put a check on the verbosity in the Senate?
And I'm still more than a little sketchy on how Alito can justify not recusing himself from the Vanguard case. Anyone care to explain his answer today? It seemed like he was saying that because he admitted that he should have recused himself when someone pointed it out that he was innocent of any ethical squirming in the first place. I'm not convinced.
Amended to add: Several hours farther into the hearings, he finally went into a full explanation of what happened with the Vanguard case. His explanation was that it was an issue that hadn't come up for 12 years, and by the time the case finally happened, he had forgotten that he had made that extra promise during his initial hearings. I think I can buy that. I mean, how many of us could remember a promise that we made 12 years ago, especially if it hadn't been required. So it's not quite so shady as it sounded.
3 comments:
Yeah, I'm willing to give him that one. Overall, I think I'm favorably inclined. If that's the worst dirt they can drag up on him, I think we might have a winner.
I think he just might make it. He's no John Roberts (I fell asleep listening to one of his answers during the hearings yesterday--there's something droning about his voice...), but he seems to be a pretty balanced guy. I don't think he would fall off the boat on either side.
Those Senators, though...They must not be paying their aides enough to be inventive, because I don't think they've asked him anything different from what they asked Roberts. It's all pretty much same song, second verse.
Did anyone else note that when his fellow judges from the 3rd Circuit--including a couple of leftists appointed by Clinton--were testifying favorably as to Alito's character, temperment, and fairness, that most of the Demographic Party's senators were not even in the room? If anything speaks to those senators' objectivity, that does
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