There will be plenty of time to examine Judge Alito’s judicial philosophy, qualifications, temperament, paper trail, etc. He looks like a qualified candidate to me at first blush, and readers will know that my basic instinct on judicial nominees is to give the president, of whatever party, considerable lee-way in their selections. A filibuster, right now, looks way-too-extreme to me. But – even though I guess I may get my fair share of blogads in the process – the prospect of another polarizing culture war battle does not exactly encourage, does it? The glee with which the partisan right and left will now posture, the money that will be spent, the energies that will be expended – it’s not a very edifying spectacle for the Supreme Court. I know it’s just where we are, but could we have a little less Beltway glee about it? Conservatives who live for ideological battle, whose main disappointment with Roberts was that he didn’t set the stage for a big ol’ left-right fight, are not conservative in any meaningful sense. They’re ideologues and fanatics. Same goes, of course, for the reflexive hostility on the left. Oh well. Here we go. From NRO, we have the following judicial assessment:
An Alito battle and confirmation should help Rick Santorum’s reelection campaign.
Yeah, that’s a reason to pick him, isn’t it?
The Dish 