Associate Justice Alito?
In an unsurprising move, Bush nominated Third Circuit Judge Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court this morning.
There will be a fight, what with Alito having dissented in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 947 F.2d 682 (3d Cir. 1991) reversed and remanded by Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), but after the dust settles, he’ll probably be confirmed.
I’m giving 2-1 in favor of his confirmation, for those who are gamblers.
Yours truly,
Mr. X
…crystal ball peering…
Oh smart one, can you tell me what the Roe v Wade vote will look like if he is confirmed?
Not really. There are two cases that Alito wrote in that really touched on abortion.
One is Casey, where he would have upheld a spousal notification requirement as valid under the Roe requirements. This is not the interpretation that the Supreme Court took on later review, but also doesn’t seem to be an indication that he had a problem with Roe per se or wanted to overturn it.
The second is his concurrence in Planned Parenthood v. Farmer (2000), where he chided the majority for writing a long opinion when they should have just applied the rule laid down in Stenberg v. Carhart, 530 U.S. 914, (2000) about a health of a mother exception requirement for a partial-birth abortion statute.
The upshot of my reading of Alito’s work is that he doesn’t bring his own personal opinions to the bench with him. He applies the law as he finds it and in a solid, analytically sound fashion.
As an aside, as any lawyer or law student who has read Roe v. Wade can tell you, it’s not a very analytically solid opinion. It receives so much deference because of its result, much like Brown v. Board of Education, which was also poorly written.
Still, I don’t think Alito is likely to overturn Roe.
Yours truly,
Mr. X
…pundit in training…
ahhh yer like smart and stuff. (In my best Beavis voice) Thank you for the info. I think you are almost my legal counsel!
As long as it stays almost. I’m pretty sure there are stiff penalties for practicing law without a license.
Yours truly,
Mr. X
…keeping my nose clean…