Soapbox

Judge Samuel Alito has missed his calling. He should be auditioning for “Dancing with the Stars” instead of the U.S. Supreme Court, because he did an amazing job of tap-dancing in his hearings this week. A few fancy steps that caught my ear:

Russ Feingold posed the following question: a man is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. His case is reviewed on appeal and there are no procedural problems found: he had a fair trial, in other words. But later evidence is uncovered that clearly proves the man is innocent. Does this man have a constitutional right not to be executed for a crime we now know he did not commit?

Sounds like a simple box-step question to me, but Alito went for the triple-lindy. He talked quite a bit about procedures and appeals processes. Feingold tried hard to pin him down: no, we’re not talking about court papers and judicial review, we’re talking about the constitution. Is it or is it not cruel and unusual punishment to execute a man whom you know is innocent? We’re not talking about a man who was railroaded or whose lawyer was asleep in the trial, we’re talking something more fundamental: an innocent man. Does an American citizen have an inalienable right not to be killed for something he didn’t do, regardless of the status of his appeal?

Alito played deaf, and announced authoratatively that it is unconstitutional to execute a man who has not been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt- which sounds nice, butwas not the question he was asked! He then rambled on about procedures and paperwork and said that “the defendant is bound by procedure”- in other words, filling in triplicate is more important than innocence! Just the guy we need on the Supreme Court, don’t you think?

Another point of interest: Alito was questioned about his membership in a group called “Concerned Alumni of Princeton” that expressed the unbelievably hateful positions that “people nowadays just don’t seem to know their place” and proceeded to slander blacks and other minorities wanting jobs like regular people, suggested that gays are just monkeys and thought too many women want to get into Princeton! It is certainly understandable that people would have questions about a potential supreme court member holding these extreme positions.

When called on this issue, Sam Alito did a blackflip. He said that he “cannot recall” ever joining this group. But it is simply impossible to proudly list on a job application your membership in a group that you do not remember joining! Alito noted prominently in 1985 that he was a member of this group when he applied for a job with the Reagan administration. So the man George Bush wants on the U.S. Supreme Court lied under oath!

Later, Orin Hatch lied twice more about this “non-issue” to keep the country from finding out anything about this group. First he said that Senator Ted Kennedy had never asked to supboena records of CAP, and then he said he had never recieved the request. Both these statements were quickly exposed as outright lies, as he must have known they would be.

Republicans and pundits now assure us stridently that this is a non-issue, that democrats are mean to even ask about it. How dare they suggest that he might be allied with racists, just because he was, well, allied with racists?

So we must ask ourselves; what could there be about this situation that made these men willing to risk lying on national TV? Do they believe that the nation has become so accustomed to the president and vice president lying in speeches that they will not notice their lies in the senate, or is there something they don’t want us to know?

Alito has firmly disavowed the statements of this group that he doesn’t remember joining, and I would be inclined to believe him- if it were not for the lies. If Alito’s membership in this group is truely as innocent as he says, the judge and the Republican leadership have nothing to lose by allowing the senate to examine the records. I suggest they do so at once. If there is nothing there, they can say “told you so” and we can move on. Women, gays and other minorities in this country are entitled to know the truth.