I was watching the Alito hearings today. I have to say, he acquitted himself very well, although he really gave some disingenuous answers. One part of the questioning revolved around 'signing statements' which Alito pushed for during the Reagan adminstration.
In effect, a president can write a signing statment completely undermining his support of the law, which is what happened with the torture ban. Up until now, the courts have not given this much weight. Since Alito worked for the adminstration that came up with them and
strongly recommended them, the big question is if he will be the first Supreme Court justice to do so.
He really tap danced around the answer to that question by Kennedy. The next Senator in line basically did not ask Alito questions but instead chose to make a speech on his behalf.
In effect, people had better start praying for a two party split between the executive and legislative branches because Alito seems to be a guy who is unwilling to put on any brakes when it comes to executive power.
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