January 23, 2006  Where are the real political opportunities and
risks in the Alito vote?  The NYT has an editorial today headed
"Judge Alito's Radical Views." The Times outlines the position
-- relied on by the Democrats at the hearings -- that Alito
takes an extreme view on various constitutional questions. It
repeats their mantra: Alito "has a history of tilting the scales
of justice against the little guy." The point of this paragraph
is to refute the strongest argument for voting for Alito: The
Constitution gives the President the appointment power. That
means something. Elections mean something. If you believe
constitutional law at the Supreme Court level is somewhat,
mostly, or completely political, it means even more, because
someone must choose from among all those qualified jurists. Why
would it not be the President?  Here, the NYT's assertion is
that the President isn't that popular. Though he was re-elected
a little over a year ago, support for him is rather low. (Too
bad it's not lower, or this w