The Feld-Blog

Hey remember that Alito guy? President Bush is trying to get him a seat on the Supreme Court. And Refreshingly enough, the hearings seem to be focusing on something other than abortion. Charles Schumer and Edward Kennedy are concerned with the seemingly unchecked nature of Presidential power and they are pressing the issue with Alito.

Doesn’t it seem recently as if Bush can just do whatever he wants and get away with it? I really feel pretty helpless as an ordinary citizen. He can hold American and foreign citizens indefinitely without charging them with crimes or affording them the rights of POWs. He pushed to leave torture an option for extracting information from suspects. He has bypassed the national security courts to institute roaming wiretaps on American citizens without a warrant. It seems he can’t take a step in any direction without leaping his bounds. For a Republican who claims the federal government is too powerful, he has certainly made some ridiculous power grabs.

Congress always have a difficult time checking the power of the president. There are simply too many of them. There are simply too many hoops to jump through before they can do anything to hold the President truly accountable. The Supreme Court stands the best chance of knocking the President back into reality, but Alito is certainly not the one to do it. He has often written about the importance of Presidential autonomy and the expansiveness of Presidential power. With the current trends in Bush’s actions, Presidential power needs to be addressed now! We can’t afford to have someone like Alito on the Court.

Please don’t forget we aren’t through this whole Supreme Court nominee process. Remember it, we still have some important work to do. This is a lifetime appointment for someone who will likely condone the wanton disregard for civil rights transgressed by the Bush administration. Someone needs to stand up and stop Bush from steamrolling the rest of our government. I don’t think we can trust Alito to do it.