2008 Woodie Awards
New Court Candidate Could Mean Wearing Down of Privacy
Tori Adrian
Issue date: 11/16/05 Section: Perspectives
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The withdrawal of Harriet Miers' nomination for Supreme Court Justice satisfied many senators and political officials on both sides of the political spectrum. However, with the impending retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the Bush Administration was in a quandary to fill her seat with someone who actually had judicial experience.
Enter Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. With experience on the United States Court of Appeals, he seems to be a more logical and prudent choice for a candidate to the nation's highest court.
But beyond the experience and past- degrees from Princeton and Yale-- lies a mission set forth by the Bush Administration and backed by the conservative right to slowly wear down progress in women's rights and the right to privacy. An ardent believer in strict interpretation of the Constitution, Alito voted to uphold Pennsylvania law that required women who sought abortions to notify their partners in Planned Parenthood vs. Casey (1991), thus violating a woman's personal right to ownership over her own body and threatening cases like Roe vs. Wade.
Although Roe was upheld when Planned Parenthood vs. Casey was taken to the Supreme Court, what will happen when the same judge who ruled to uphold the laws of Pennsylvania in the Court of Appeals receives a similar case on the bench of the nation's highest court?
Over 2000 soldiers are dead in Iraq, with no clear resolution in sight. And the tunnel has become increasingly longer and darker now that the suspicions of no weapons of mass destruction have been confirmed. It seems that appointing super-conservative justices to the Supreme Court is Bush's last-ditch attempt to regain some sort of foothold in the landslide that he has been creating over the past few years.
By choosing candidates that hold the same views as the so-called "moral majority," Bush intends to use Alito, a judge with right-winged ideals, to push through his Christian Right agenda, and little by little wear away the foundations of landmark cases such as Roe vs. Wade until his goal of overturning these cases is achieved. This ambition may not be achieved during his term, but by replacing a swing vote with a ridiculously conservative one, it will guarantee that the law will not be interpreted based on the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but rather the ideal that a secular society is merely a fabrication of the past. The enlightenment values woven into our society will be replaced by some sort of puritanical agenda.
When the Senate begins hearings, let's hope that they'll ignore the ivy-league diplomas and keep in mind what's best for the country as a whole.
Enter Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. With experience on the United States Court of Appeals, he seems to be a more logical and prudent choice for a candidate to the nation's highest court.
But beyond the experience and past- degrees from Princeton and Yale-- lies a mission set forth by the Bush Administration and backed by the conservative right to slowly wear down progress in women's rights and the right to privacy. An ardent believer in strict interpretation of the Constitution, Alito voted to uphold Pennsylvania law that required women who sought abortions to notify their partners in Planned Parenthood vs. Casey (1991), thus violating a woman's personal right to ownership over her own body and threatening cases like Roe vs. Wade.
Although Roe was upheld when Planned Parenthood vs. Casey was taken to the Supreme Court, what will happen when the same judge who ruled to uphold the laws of Pennsylvania in the Court of Appeals receives a similar case on the bench of the nation's highest court?
Over 2000 soldiers are dead in Iraq, with no clear resolution in sight. And the tunnel has become increasingly longer and darker now that the suspicions of no weapons of mass destruction have been confirmed. It seems that appointing super-conservative justices to the Supreme Court is Bush's last-ditch attempt to regain some sort of foothold in the landslide that he has been creating over the past few years.
By choosing candidates that hold the same views as the so-called "moral majority," Bush intends to use Alito, a judge with right-winged ideals, to push through his Christian Right agenda, and little by little wear away the foundations of landmark cases such as Roe vs. Wade until his goal of overturning these cases is achieved. This ambition may not be achieved during his term, but by replacing a swing vote with a ridiculously conservative one, it will guarantee that the law will not be interpreted based on the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but rather the ideal that a secular society is merely a fabrication of the past. The enlightenment values woven into our society will be replaced by some sort of puritanical agenda.
When the Senate begins hearings, let's hope that they'll ignore the ivy-league diplomas and keep in mind what's best for the country as a whole.