Confirm Judge Alito

As a telling sign of the predicament Senate Democrats are in The Washington Post has endorsed the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Post cites various reservations they have with a Justice Alito—he defers to the elected branches too often, he has read civil rights statutes and precedents too narrowly on occasion, he has an unpromising approach to federalism—but opines that to reject his nomination would create negative "long-term implications" towards the confirmation process.

It is clear, in the Post’s view as well my own, that Judge Alito is clearly qualified for the Supreme Court and falls well within the judicial mainstream, whatever that is. Democratic attempts at smearing the judge have clearly failed—every rational individual recognizes as much.

The only grounds remaining on which to oppose him are purely ideological. As the Post aptly points out however, for a senator to oppose Judge Alito on purely ideological grounds is to "believe there exists a Democratic law and a Republican law—which is repugnant to the ideal of the rule of law." There is one law and Judge Alito’s tenure on the Third Circuit has demonstrated that he recognizes this.

The president is entitled to his choice for the Court, provided that choice is qualified and respectful of the written law of the United States. Judge Alito is. In two months of public debate and four days of hearings Senate Democrats have failed to establish otherwise.

Barring some unforeseeable development, Judge Alito will deservedly be confirmed. Any futile semblance of opposition or obstructionism Senate Democrats advance will only betray those culpable as the political ideologues we all expected they were.