"Alito"? Is that Italian for "overturned"?

Dobson 'Extremely Pleased' by Alito Nomination

Says circuit judge "understands the role of the judiciary"

Colorado Springs, Colo. — Focus on the Family Action founder and chairman James C. Dobson, Ph.D., issued the following statement today about the nomination of Circuit Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court:

"We are extremely pleased by President Bush's selection of Judge Samuel Alito, who has earned the respect of colleagues in both parties for his legal acumen and courtroom demeanor. As a federal judge for the last 15 years, Judge Alito has demonstrated that he understands the role of the judiciary is to interpret existing law in light of the Constitution, not make new law in service to a personal political agenda. “

Though God knows it’s not for lack of trying

Judge Alito’s analysis is itself totally lacking in support, and seems to allow for “substantial ill effects” to be suffered by some women just because we cannot be sure how many women would beimpacted. He simply would have held that a husband had a “legitimate” interest in a fetus being carried by his wife and that the state had a legitimate interest in furthering this interest, giving no weight to the countervailing interest of a woman to control her own body.

The U.S. Supreme Court subsequently rejected this spousal consent provision, writing that it would give a man “the kind of dominion over his wife that parents exercise over their children.” Planned Parenthood v.Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 897 (1992).

…

In a decision directly impacting the rights of women, Judge Alito rejected as unconstitutional the provisions of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act allowing state employees to sue their states for failure to provide them with the leave mandated under the Act.



When the Supreme Court addressed the question in 2003, it concluded that the FMLA was a valid exercise of Congressional authority under the Fourteenth Amendment, remedying historic and well-documented discrimination against women. Nev. Dep't of Human Res. v. Hibbs, 538 U.S. 721(2003)
…

Judge Alito would make it more difficult for plaintiffs to prevail in sex discrimination and other cases charging unlawful employment discrimination. An important issue in employment discrimination cases is what evidence the plaintiff must offer in order to defeat a defendant employer’s motion for summary judgment. Once a plaintiff shows that the employer took some adverse employment action against the plaintiff (e.g., firing), in circumstances that create an inference of discrimination, the employer has the opportunity to offer a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for its action. At that point, the plaintiff may show that the employer’s proffered legitimate reason is, in fact, a pretext.

Judge Alito was the sole member of the Third Circuit to urge that, even where the plaintiff had reached this point and shown the employer’s supposedly legitimate reason to be pretextual, the employer could still be granted summary judgment, rather than sending the case to a jury.

Judge Alito’s position was eventually rejected
by the Supreme Court. Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133 (2000).

I guess if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. And then beat 'em.

That water warm enough for ya, Scooter?

Tom Hagen : When a plot against the Emperor failed... the plotters were always given a chance... to let their families keep their fortunes. Right?

Frank Pentangeli : Yeah, but only the rich guys, Tom. The little guys got knocked off and all their estates went to the Emperors. Unless they went home and killed themselves, then nothing happened. And the families... the families were taken care of.

Tom Hagen : That was a good break. A nice deal.

Frank Pentangeli: Yeah... They went home... and sat in a hot bath... opened up their veins... and bled to death... and sometimes they had a little party before they did it.

God Bless Us, Everyone

Postings have been sparse lately, but like many of you I have been busy with my Fitzmas preparations. Every year I say I'm going to scale back, but I just get caught up in the excitement. And besides, the children enjoy it so.

So I've baked my Fitzmas cookies, sent out my Fitzmas cards and decorated my Fitzmas tree:



I like to remember the reason for the season 

Loyalty is for losers.

With his nomination of Harriet Miers George Bush may have finally revealed his true nature to the besotted cultural conservatives who turned out for him in the '04 elections. The ones who thought George meant what he said about his relationship with God and who hold him up as an exemplar of the conservative "family values" they embrace. Because with this nomination, George shows he is out for George and George alone. Harriet Miers is more of a moderate than the radical right can stand, as witnessed by the meltdown in conservative blogdom.

But George doesn't need his "base" anymore; he's not running for re-election and given Jeb's dysfunctional nuclear family, he's not in line for the Presidency in this lifetime.

So George can screw the people who brought him to power because they don't matter anymore. He needs to cover his own ass and this nomination will serve him brilliantly. He puts a loyal crony on the Supreme Court, which protects his future interests as indictments and convictions of his staff wend their way through the judiciary. He also names a woman who is pro-business, so his friends in the corporate world can show their gratitude with Board seats after he leaves office.

And all you nice Red State folks who voted AGAINST your own economic and social interests because George Bush doesn't kill babies or let two men get married?

Karma's a bitch.