Alito’s personal opinions in 1985 of the Warren Court’s views on reapportionment have raised eyebrows on both sides of the aisle recently, but understandably only Democrats have been making hay about it given its importance to black voting rights.
Here’s more from the Washington Post:
Democrats began raising questions about Judge Alito’s position on the principle of one person one vote last week after the disclosure that in a 1985 memorandum seeking a promotion in the Reagan administration he expressed strong disagreement with the Warren Court’s landmark reapportionment cases. The cases, most notably Baker v. Carr in 1962 and Reynolds v. Sims in 1964, required states to draw electoral districts with equal populations, preventing the creation of uneven districts that dilute the representation of black voters.
In his 1987 confirmation hearings, Judge Robert H. Bork’s disagreement with the cases became a focus of the opposition that led to the rejection of his Supreme Court nomination, and on Sunday, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., a Delaware Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said Judge Alito’s statements had increased the chances that Democrats might block a confirmation vote.
If Judge Alito questioned the one-person-one-vote principle, Mr. Biden said in an interview on the Fox News Channel, “Clearly, you’ll find a lot of people, including me, willing to do whatever they can to keep him off the court.”
What concerns me is this idea that Alito is going around assuring everybody he respects precedent, but we’ve seen how that’s shaken out so far with SCOTUS justices.
In short, respecting precedent doesn’t seem to be a precedent among the members, so why should it be any different this time?
So, at the end of the day can we trust Alito’s word? His 1985 job application is certainly not heartening, and he was plenty old to have decided how he felt on key issues. However, the White House seems to be telling us to trust him. Fair enough, but can we trust the White House?
And furthermore, what’s your view on the White House’s precedent on being upfront with us?
“Judge Alito believes and has told senators that he believes ‘one man one vote’ is bedrock principle,” Steve Schmidt, a White House spokesman, said Tuesday.
The White House has previously declined to comment publicly on the conversations its court nominees have in meetings with senators, and its unusual statement is part of a strategic tug of war between the administration and its liberal opponents over the direction of the debate on the Alito nomination. Liberal groups are seeking to broaden their criticisms of Judge Alito from the issue of abortion rights to a more wide-ranging discussion that includes civil rights and police searches.
Read the whole thing here.