Schumer, Alito And Roberts: A Little History

Schumer says no more Bush high court nominees. He feels duped and hoodwinked by Alito and Roberts, but what was it he and his fellow Dems were saying then?

Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, a member of the Judiciary Committee that held hearings on the two, said they staked out moderate positions in congressional testimony but became part of a conservative bloc that issued restrictive rulings on issues from free speech to civil rights

Schumer, apparently an untalented artist when it came to Alito, knew just what he was getting with both if you read below. He just didn't have the political capital to fight the nominations. Now he thinks he does, so he's pretending he was duped? What a schmuck!

And so you have to probe further. I tried to do that on the issue of choice yesterday, and I think I made some progress. And you also have to make a judgment, and that's often a judgment that is not a science, but really an art.

... I think I have to wait until the end of the hearings and then go back, read the transcripts, look at Judge Alito's history, talk to my colleagues and come to a conclusion.

And on Roberts:

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), at the end of the hearings, conceded that since Roberts is now nominated to take the place of Rehnquist - replacing a conservative with a conservative - the stakes were not as high as when he was in line for O'Connor's seat.

But on the other hand, Schumer said, confirming Roberts would put a strong conservative on the bench for the next 30 years.

And this on Alito:

Alito's past writings and rulings on executive power ''edge on the extreme," Schumer said on ''Meet the Press."

''No one can read through [Alito's appeals court] opinions and not find out that there's a basic hostility to individual and individual rights, a welcoming to executive authority and power even when it's excessive, and also the fact that he has so identified with major corporate interests at the expense of individual interests," Kennedy said.

Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, a Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that if Alito refused to answer questions it would increase the chances of a filibuster. ''I haven't made up my mind about how to vote and certainly whether to block him or not. . . . But he's got to answer a lot of questions," Schumer said on NBC's ''Meet the Press."

They both answered a lot of questions, as I recall, in fact, they ran rings around the Senate Dems. It isn't Robert's and Alito's fault Schumer wasn't bright enough to keep up. He had everything he needed to fight the nominations more aggressively at the time, he lost.

Comments

[bloodrage bob]

so schumer ADMITS he's a gullible, pathetically stupid braindead halfwit dumbass?

what a unique strategy.

[Continuum]

. . . . . Breaking News . . . . . Breaking News . . . . . Breaking News . .

Right Wing Bloggers Learn that Elections Have Consequences

[Purple Avenger]

"a gullible, pathetically stupid braindead halfwit dumbass"

A *criminal* gullible, pathetically stupid braindead halfwit dumbass. Let's not forget the episode where a Schumer black bag crew was stealing Steele's garbage and doing identity thefts. That whole unsavory affair got swept under the rug by the media chop chop and his field operatives were quickly thrown under the bus.

[Fred Beloit]

Majority voters of New York state, alive and dead, are responsible for this person's continued presence in the Senate, same goes for Pennsylvania's majority voters in regard to Specter, and I resent them for it. Two great arguments for term limits.

[Fred Beloit]

The WSJ on page A8 had an interesting editorial on this topic today. "...On Tuesday,...[Spector--FB] announced his plans to 'review' the confirmation hearing testimony of...[Roberts & Alito--FB] to see how it matches their decisions on the bench...It is widely agreed that it would be unseemly and improper for a nominee to seek confirmation by promising Senators how he would rule on a given issue on the bench. Yet...[Specter seems to feel--FB] that he pocketed such promises from...[Alito and Roberts--FB]...and he now wants to check to see if they've been kept..." The WSJ further opines that "...he's wading into questionable separation-of-powers territory here..." That's for sure.

[Purple Avenger]

Specter is a posturing tool.

If a judge did a complete 180 on something they told congress there's no constitutional remedy (short of constitutional amendments and tight carefully crafted legislation) should congress have buyers remorse later on. Nobody swears they won't change their mind.

Specter knows this, so this is just grandstanding.

[Capitalist Infidel]

I think it's funny that they're all admitting they are constantly "duped." To admit you're an intellectual nitwit is priceless!

[Continuum]

There are several constitutional remedies to activist Supreme Court judges.

1. Impeachment

2. Add additional Supreme Court judges. The number of judges is fixed by the Congress and not by the Constitution. Since 1910 that number has changed up and down, from 5 to 7 to 9 and down again.

3. Cut their salaries and financial support.

[Fred Beloit]

Yes, Cont, but 1, 2, 3 come with a political price, don't you think? "The majority of the court is wrong. Therefore, since I am a Senator and know more about the law than the SC majority, I'm going to impeach them, add judges I like better (need a president for that, Senator), and starve them out. Please vote for me next election day."

[richard mcenroe]

'He feels duped and hoodwinked by Alito and Roberts," why does this remind me of Jay Rockefeller whinging that Bush used "psychological pressure" to force him to vote for the Iraq War?

[Observer]

Schumers such a tush.

Just Rahm Emmanuael with a better nametag on the desk.