Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Sam Alito begin tomorrow. According to Bloomberg News, Sens. Schumer and Kennedy have not ruled out a filibuster.

This New York Times editorial succinctly describes the hot-button issues:

He has a lengthy and often troubling record he will have to explain away. As a government lawyer, he worked to overturn Roe v. Wade. He has disturbing beliefs on presidential power - a critical issue for the country right now. He has worked to sharply curtail Congress's power to pass laws and protect Americans. He may not even believe in "one person one vote."

The Times also points out that Alito's confirmation is not a done deal in the eyes of the public.

In a new Harris poll, just 34 percent of those surveyed said they thought he should be confirmed, while 31 percent said he should not, and 34 percent were unsure. Nearly 70 percent said they would oppose Judge Alito's nomination if they thought he would vote to make abortion illegal - which it appears he might well do.

Time Magazine reports the White House intends to play up the debate over Judge Sam Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court -- hoping it will distract us from the Washington scandals of Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff.

Republican officials say they are so worried about the Abramoff problem that they are now inclined to stoke a fight with Democrats over the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court in an effort to turn the page from the lobbying investigation. Outside groups plan to spend heavily, and the White House will engage in some tit for tat with Democrats as the hearings heat up.

Fat chance. We'll be reporting on both all week, and encourage everyone else not to let up on the scandal news while they cover the Alito hearings.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The biggest story of 2005 on CNN was Katrina and its aftermath, and this blog, as all the others, also exploded with stories about the government's gross mismanagement. "Brownie, you've done a heck of a job" became the catch-phrase for governmental cluelessness.

April 18th is the Centennial of the Great San Francisco Earthquake, and I've started reading up on it. Over the holidays, I read A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 by Simon Winchester. This was my first installment on the subject.

What shocked me was that the government's response in 1906 was immediate and decisive, unlike 2005.

The New York Times opines that Judge Sam Alito has an excessive zeal for presidential power.

[His] memos are part of a broader pattern of elevating the presidency above the other branches of government. In his judicial opinions, Judge Alito has shown a lack of respect for Congressional power - notably when he voted to strike down Congress's ban on machine guns as exceeding its constitutional authority. He has taken a cramped view of the Fourth Amendment and other constitutional provisions that limit executive power.

The Times urges Senators to ensure that Alito is on the side of the Constitution, not the President. Senator Leahy issued this statement Friday alerting Judge Alito that he would be questioned closely on his views about presidential power and checks and balances.

by TChris

The Washington Post provides new information about Brownie's (heck of a) job at FEMA. It turns out that Michael Brown warned Homeland Security's Tom Ridge that Ridge's plans for FEMA would "shatter agency morale" and "break longstanding, effective and tested relationships with states and first responder stakeholders" while making a mockery of FEMA's motto: A Nation Prepared.

The inevitable result, he wrote, would be "an ineffective and uncoordinated response" to a terrorist attack or a natural disaster.

At least Brownie got that right. The explanation for FEMA's miserable response to Katrina reaches beyond Brown's legendary incompetence.

The National Archives today released additional memos written by Judge Sam Alito, including one in 1985 that advocated overturning Roe v. Wade.

Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito wrote in a June 1985 memo that the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion should be overturned, a finding certain to enliven January's confirmation hearings. In a recommendation to the solicitor general on filing a friend-of- court brief, Alito said that the government "should make clear that we disagree with Roe v. Wade and would welcome the opportunity to brief the issue of whether, and if so to what extent, that decision should be overruled."

In another memo, he supported the ability of government officials to order domestic wiretaps:

American Progress is hosting a blogger conference call on Judge Sam Alito at 3pm ET. If you'd like to participate, here are the details:

The regular call-in line is (888) 665-1701, and the conference ID number is 3461465.

Speakers include Paul Begala, Judd Legum , David Halperin and me. You will be able to ask questions.

How typical of conservatives. When you don't have a legal or rational leg to stand on, attack those pointing out the error of your ways. The New York Times reports that as part of "law enforcement week," conservatives have launched an internet ad campaign supporting Judge Sam Alito's dissent in the 2004 case of Doe v. Groody (pdf), in which Alito argued it was okay for police to strip search a ten year old when the warrant only named her father. I kept reading the article, thinking I would learn the legal theory the ad relied as support for Alito's belief that the police action was justified. Instead, I found this:

The conservative advertisement attacks the "left-wing extremists" who oppose Judge Alito, saying they "may have found new allies, drug dealers who hide their drugs on children."

Judge Alito's actual dissent in the case reads like a prosecutor's brief rather than a judicial opinion: The search was good, and even if it wasn't, a reasonable officer might have believed it was good -- and it's a fact that drug dealers use their kids to carry out their business and avoid prosecution.

The majority opinion, by the way, with which Alito disagreed, was written by that uber-liberal (sarcasm) former Judge and now Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff.

by TChris

Two law professors, Goodwin Liu and Lynsay Skiba, have authored a white paper (pdf) for the indispensable American Constitution Society, exploring Judge Alito�s approach to death penalty reviews during his tenure on the Court of Appeals. Here�s a synopsis (received via email):

In their paper, "Judge Alito and the Death Penalty," Liu and Skiba examine in detail the five capital cases in which Judge Alito disagreed with his colleagues during his tenure on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Liu and Skiba note that Judge Alito has voted to uphold a death sentence in each of these five capital cases. They conclude that, in doing so, Judge Alito "dilute[ed] norms of basic fairness" by taking controversial positions outside-the- mainstream of judicial thought. After noting the implications of both Judge Alito's judicial methodology and his ideology for his jurisprudence relating to the death penalty and the War on Terror, Liu and Skiba propose a series of specific questions that they suggest Senators on the Judiciary Committee pose to the nominee during the upcoming hearings on his nomination.

Say hello to Alito's America, a youth-oriented campaign to stop the nomination of Sam Alito. It's a project of Campus Progress and Center for American Progress. Sample Messages:

President Bush has nominated Samuel Alito, a judge with a long record of judicial extremism, to replace Sandra Day O'Connor, who has been the crucial moderate voice and swing vote on the Supreme Court. If Judge Alito is confirmed, his extreme right-wing ideology would endanger our basic freedoms.

and a sample letter to send to your Senators:

Samuel Alito's America is not my America. I'm opposed to the confirmation of Judge Alito to the Supreme Court. I believe that President Bush should appoint a mainstream judge in the mold of Sandra Day O'Connor.

Watch the video.

When announcing Judge Sam Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court, President Bush said:

I'm sure, as well, that Judge Alito is thinking of his mom, Rose, who will be 91 in December. And I know he's thinking about his late father. Samuel Alito Sr. came to this country as a immigrant from Italy in 1914. And his fine family has realized the great promise of our country.

London Yank at Daily Kos checked out the elder Alito's military records (available online) for WWII.

Samuel Alito of Mercer, New Jersey was born in 1914 in New Jersey. There are codes on the data set for "Nativity" as well as "Citizenship" so there is no possibility of error here - unless Sam Sr. lied when he enlisted in 1938 to serve his country.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Tomorrow's NY Times has a significant article online tonight about the scapegoating of Hurricane Katrina: In Newly Released Documents, a View of the Storm After Katrina. It started as soon as the water leveled out in NOLA, and Bushinistas were already finding ways to blame everybody but themselves for the lack of preparation. No plan, except plan to shift blame. Worked with everything else to be thrown at Bush for the last five years, so why not then?

The gamesmanship and political posturing were, in a word, amazing. The greatest natural disaster in the history of the United States, maybe other than the 1906 San Francisco earthquake (see below), was a political tool or weapon in the hands of those who consider politics bloodsport without rules.