junk politics

Dear Friend,

When President Bush nominated Samuel Alito to replace Sandra
Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court last year, I wrote you to
express my strong opposition to his confirmation. His record,
both on the bench and as an official in the Reagan and first
Bush administrations, showed that he is an ideologue whose
extreme views would put our fundamental rights at risk.

Now that his hearings in front of the Senate Judiciary
Committee are underway, it is becoming even clearer that Samuel
Alito is the wrong man for the job. It's time for Democrats to
stand up for what we believe in. Join me in opposing Samuel
Alito's confirmation to the Supreme Court.

http://www.oneamericacommittee.com/opposealito

Alito's careful dodging of the tough questions about his
ideology and record can't hide the fact that his views are way
outside the mainstream. His failed memory about his own
activities — from his membership in a reactionary group at
Princeton to his failure to recuse himself from cases in which
he had a financial interest — creates a vacuum on ethical
issues that is unacceptable in an appointment of this
importance.

Please join me in calling on Democratic Senators to stand up
for the core principals of our party by opposing Alito's
nomination. This is not my petition; it is ours, because all of
us are threatened by this nomination. Sign our petition calling
on Senate Democrats to stand together and block Alito's
confirmation with every means at their disposal. We will share
the results with Democrats on the Senate Judiciary
Committee.

http://www.oneamericacommittee.com/opposealito

What would it mean if Alito is confirmed to the Supreme
Court? Alito is a conservative activist in the mold of Antonin
Scalia and Clarence Thomas. If he replaces the moderate Sandra
Day O'Connor, a consistent swing vote, the court would shift far
to the right, endangering our liberties so deeply that it would
affect the lives of every single American.

Here are just a few of the positions Alito has staked out
that put our fundamental rights in danger.

• Abuse of Power. President Bush is now engaging in
  surveillance of United States citizens that violates federal
  law. He could have asked Congress to change the law, but he
  didn't. That overt abuse of power demonstrates the importance of
  a Supreme Court committed to protecting our basic freedoms. But
  Alito has consistently expressed support for vesting tremendous
  power in the hands of the President, with few checks by Congress
  and the courts. In questioning, he responded that the courts
  were ill-equipped to determine the limits for interrogations or
  detentions that the administration or the military deems
  important for security or to balance the government's needs
  against basic constitutional protections. The implication that
  he would take a hands off approach whenever the administration
  says "national security" is in invitation for governmental
  abuse.
  
  


• Eliminating the Right To Choose. When Alito applied
  to work at the Justice Department in 1985, he expressed his
  strong belief that, in his own words, "the Constitution does not
  protect a right to an abortion." As a judge, he took a narrow
  view of Roe that the Supreme Court, and Justice O'Connor,
  explicitly rejected. In his hearing, Democratic Senators
  repeatedly pressed Alito to distance himself from the view he
  expressed in 1985. He didn't. Instead he focused on the
  undisputed doctrine of stare decisis, that is, giving
  weight to existing case law. In the absence of a repudiation of
  his unequivocal statement in 1985, I am not comforted much. His
  answers about abortion sounded a lot like Clarence Thomas's.
  It's clear that given the opportunity, Alito will vote to
  restrict — and probably eliminate — a woman's right
  to choose.
  
  


• Conservative Judicial Activism. Judge Alito has a
  history of putting his conservative ideology over the rule of
  law. He has voted to invalidate important laws passed by
  Congress, including a ban on machine guns and the Family and
  Medical Leave Act. And he has consistently ruled against victims
  of discrimination in the workplace. In all these cases, he has
  proven more conservative than many of his Republican colleagues
  on the courts of appeals and even more conservative than Antonin
  Scalia and Clarence Thomas in some cases.

Judge Alito has consistently sided with the most powerful
interests, business or government, which concerns me greatly.
But I am most concerned about his willingness to overlook
executive abuse of power, which has been then hallmark of this
administration. This is a judge who is way out of the
mainstream, someone who disregards our fundamental rights and
endangers our liberties. Join me today in urging Senate
Democrats to stand together and use every means they have
available to block this dangerous nomination.

http://www.oneamericacommittee.com/opposealito

Sign this important petition today. Your support will make an
enormous difference to our Democratic Senators as they stand
together to fight Samuel Alito's confirmation to the Supreme
Court.

Thank you for all that you do for our party,

John Edwards