Alito’s confirmation ‘giant step,’ Land says
- Feb 15, 2006
The U.S. Senate’s confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court Jan. 31 marked a “giant step … toward restoring the constitutional balance of powers envisioned by the founders of our nation,” said Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
The Senate voted 58-42 to confirm Alito, with four Democrats joining all but one Republican in approving the judge from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which is based in Philadelphia, Pa. Some Democrats sought to build support for a filibuster to delay or block the vote, but the confirmation was a foregone conclusion after the Senate voted 72-25 Jan. 30 to end debate.
Alito, 55, was sworn in the day of his confirmation and immediately replaced Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who had announced her retirement in July but had continued to serve on the court until her successor was confirmed.
The addition of Alito, who has established a reputation for judicial restraint in 15 years on the Third Circuit, boosts the hopes of pro-life advocates and other social conservatives that the nine-member court may begin to move at least somewhat away from its mostly liberal direction in recent decades.
It was “a great day for all Americans who cherish our constitutional form of government with its checks and balances to guard against any one branch of the federal government gaining too much power over Americans’ lives,” Land said.
“Tens of millions of Americans, and I would include myself in that number, have been extremely anguished about the increasingly, some would say unconstitutionally, powerful role of the Supreme Court over the last four decades. Increasingly, the Supreme Court felt no compunction about striking down laws passed by the people’s representatives in Congress and the state legislatures that offended their personal sense of right and wrong, as opposed to interpreting the Constitution.”
Alito’s confirmation provides President Bush with two successful nominees to the high court in barely four months’ time, despite opposition from abortion rights and other liberal organizations, as well as some of their Democratic allies in the Senate. The Senate confirmed John Roberts as chief justice Sept. 29 in a 78-22 vote.
Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island was the lone Republican to vote against Alito. The Democrats who supported confirmation were Sens. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Ben Nelson of Nebraska.
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