As I write this, we are about half an hour into the Senate Judiciary Commitee deliberations that will, in short order, send Samuel Alito to the full Senate with a positive report. The most we can hope for is some fire and brimstone from the commitee’s eight Democrats, but I’m not holding my breath.
Dispiriting poll data released Sunday: 54% of Americans support Alito. 48% say a filibuster would not be justified (why not 54?), versus 38% who say a filibuster would be justified. There seems to also be a strong contingent of Americans who believe that Alito will not vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Laying aside the matter of whether he would so vote (probably, but only after he’s already gutted abortion laws to the point where nobody has access anyway), Alito’s confirmation isn’t just about reproductive choice. Not even primarily. This is Strip Search Sammy we’re talking about, a man who by all appearances will support the hell out of Bush’s surveillance and general ass-raping of our civil liberties. I’m not trying to argue that we shouldn’t be concerned about losing abortion rights in the next few years; but we should be much, much more concerned about becoming a crypto-police state in the next few months.
With support like that poll shows, though, a filibuster is clearly a political risk. This isn’t Bork; there isn’t a public hue and cry over the evident danger Alito represents. And so, I expect that in a couple more weeks, he’ll get confirmed without a whisper of trouble, although without the overwhelming majority that Roberts got.
Roe turned 33 on Sunday. Happy birthday, and goodbye.