Bush nominates conservative for Supreme Court

From the Houston Chronicle:

This time, though, Democrats have threatened to oppose, and possibly filibuster, any nominee deemed too far out of the mainstream. Alito, who is often derided as "Scalito," in reference to the Supreme Court's most vocal conservative, Justice Antonin Scalia, has a mixed record on abortion rights.

And

Alito was the lone dissenter in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a case in which the 3rd Circuit struck down a Pennsylvania law that included a provision requiring women seeking abortions to notify their spouses.

"The Pennsylvania legislature could have rationally believed that some married women are initially inclined to obtain an abortion without their husbands' knowledge because of perceived problems — such as economic constraints, future plans or the husbands' previously expressed opposition — that may be obviated by discussion prior to the abortion," Alito wrote.

The case ended up at the Supreme Court where the justices, in a 6-3 decision struck down the spousal notification provision of the law. The late Chief Justice William Rehnquist cited Alito's reasoning in his own dissent.

But in 2000, Alito joined the majority that found a New Jersey law banning late-term abortions unconstitutional. In his concurring opinion, Alito said the Supreme Court required such a ban to include an exception if the mother's health was endangered.

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"Mixed record on abortion rights?" Well, his decision on "partial birth" abortions is nice and all, but the Planned Parenthood v Casey decision essentially hands over partial ownership of a woman's body to her husband: that's a massive regression in terms of civil rights--no woman belongs to anybody. Period. This guy clearly meets the "extraordinary circumstance" standard established by the Senate "moderates" who brokered the deal that averted the so-called nuclear option doing away with the filibuster. In other words, if the Republican "moderates" back this guy, then they've broken the deal.

Time to filibuster this nomination like there's no tomorrow. Bush is weak. The time is now.

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