Rekjalhew

December 2, 2005

US Senator Charles Schumer playing dirty tricks with the Samuel Alito nomination

by @ 1:54 am. Filed under Nuts on Parade

Now that Liberals are trying to stir anger about Samuel Alito being a Conservative, Chucky Schumer is using some interesting tricks in the media. He is trying to make it seem as if Judge Alito has been withholding information, when just the opposite is true!

In response to the findings brought up in the MSM report that I linked in this other post. FoxNews quotes Senator Charles Schumer saying the following in response:

It is puzzling that one of the most significant cases that Judge Alito had a hand working on was omitted from his questionnaire…
I hope that Judge Alito will provide an explanation for this omission and also any other cases he worked on during his time in the Solicitor General’s office.

Also, the following Washington Post article mentions that and some other items I shot down in my prior post that is linked above.

Newly Released Papers Energize Alito’s Critics

One Democratic senator demanded yesterday that Alito explain why he omitted references to a 17-page abortion-strategy memo in a questionnaire recently returned to the Senate Judiciary Committee, while another senator — Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), the committee’s senior member — said that “a credibility gap is emerging with each new piece of information released on Judge Alito’s record.”

But the fact is that there is no credibility gap at all! Judge Alito did cover his work for the Justice Department in his completed questionnaire.

(From page 47-48 of Judge Alito’s questionnaire. His response to the question is in bold type.)

18. Legal Activities: Describe the most significant legal activities you have pursued, including significant litigation which did not progress to trial or legal matters that did not involve litigation. Describe fully the nature of your participation in these activities. Please list any client(s) or organization(s) for whom you performed lobbying activities and describe these activities in detail.

During most of my legal career, my work has related exclusively or almost exclusively to litigation. From late 1985 until early 1987, however, while serving as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel, I assisted in providing advice to the Attorney General and to components of the Executive Branch on legal issues that arose outside the context of litigation. I was one of three Deputies in the office at that time. One of the Deputies concentrated on matters involving foreign relations and international law, and the other was responsible for, among other things, reviewing proposed legislation for possible constitutional problems. I was responsible for a broad range of matters not falling into either of the above categories. At times, I responded to oral requests for expedited advice, but most of the work involved written requests for an opinion on a constitutional or legal question. Some requests grew out of disputes between government agencies, and OLC, acting on behalf of the Attorney General, was responsible for providing a resolution of the dispute. For the most part, I was responsible for providing the first level of supervision and review on work done by the Attorney Advisers. A list of the publicly released OLC opinions bearing my name has been provided, and these opinions are representative of much of my work during that time.

This was the only question in the entire questionnaire where he could cover such work for the Justice Department and he mentions that he worked on a broad range of things over those years. He also mentions that all that could be publicly released has been submitted! Judge Alito has no control over what is released and it is possible that not everything can be released. So he was in no way “omitting” anything! But people like Chucky Schumer know that most people will never read the actual questionnaire, to know that he is telling a lie! Judge Alito said all that he could! And all that could be released was released! The latest memo release was a memo he wrote, but he was not leading work on that case! It is ridiculous to think that he would reference a memo he offered in lending advice to colleagues. Colleagues that were Conservative themselves! In actuality, Judge Alito’s memo was an effort to slow down their attempts to defeat Roe v. Wade and we know the attempt would have failed! So if anything, one could say that Judge Alito was playing the role of a more Liberal member of the staff in that case!

Also Schumer says:

From the Washington Post article:

“In light of your 17-page memorandum and the accounts of your former colleagues, your ‘participation in the litigation’ was clearly substantial,” Schumer said in a letter asking Alito to explain. Citing a previously disclosed memo in which Alito successfully sought a promotion in the Justice Department, Schumer added: “In your 1985 job application, written only a few months later, you appeared to highlight your work on the Thornburgh case.”

Judge Alito never specified the Thornburgh case by name in this application letter that has been released. If Alito was thinking about the Thornburgh case then, it is more than a stretch to think that 20 years later he would recall a memo on a case he did not lead! Given he was speaking about years of work in the questionnaire, it would not make sense to add to that “oh yea and 20 years ago I wrote a memo to some colleagues that were taking an anti-abortion stance in a case” :roll: ! Sure he is a Conservative, but to think that he would bring up a memo given to colleagues that were working on a case 20 years ago is insane!

The Liberals are going to continue to play games with this one, but don’t be fooled! Alito did not withhold information about cases he was involved in! The questionnaire focuses mostly on cases he actually had a lead role in. And there is only that one question that ask about involvement outside of actual litigation! In response to that question Judge Alito honestly stated who he was working for then and that anything that could be made public would be given to them! Judge Alito was not leading that case, so I doubt there is anything else to release.

It is sad that Schumer and Kennedy want to press so hard for babies to continue being killed with the approval of government!



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