The challenge for Judge Alito in
the course of these hearings is to demonstrate that he will
protect the rights and liberties of all Americans and serve as
an effective check on Government overreaching. The President
has not helped his cause by withdrawing his earlier nomination
of Harriet Miers in the face of criticism from a narrow faction
of his own party. Supreme Court nominations should not be
conducted through a series of winks and nods designed to
reassure Republican factions while leaving the American people
in the dark. No President should be allowed to pack the courts,
and especially the Supreme Court, with nominees selected to
enshrine presidential claims of Government power. The checks
and balances that should be provided by the courts, Congress and
the Constitution are too important to be sacrificed to a narrow,
partisan agenda.
This hearing is the opportunity
for the American people to learn what Samuel Alito thinks about
their fundamental constitutional rights and whether he will
serve to protect their liberty, their privacy and their autonomy
from Government intrusion. The Supreme Court belongs to all
Americans, not just the person occupying the White House, and
not just to a narrow faction of a political party.
The Supreme Court is the ultimate
check and balance in our system.
Independence of the courts and its
members is crucial to our democracy and way of life. The Senate
should never be allowed to become a rubber stamp, and neither
should the Supreme Court. I will ask Judge Alito to demonstrate
his independence from the interests of the President.
This is a nomination to a lifetime
seat on the nation’s highest court that has often represented
the decisive vote on constitutional issues. The Senate needs to
make an informed decision about this nomination. That means
knowing more about Samuel Alito’s work in the Government and
knowing more about his views. I intend to ask about the
disturbing memorandum he wrote to become a political appointee
in the Meese Justice Department, in which he professes concern
with the fundamental principle of “one person, one vote,” a
principle of the equality that is the bedrock of our laws.
This hearing is the only
opportunity that the American people and their representatives
have to consider the suitability of the nominee to serve as a
final arbiter of the meaning of Constitution and the law. Has
he demonstrated a commitment to the fundamental rights of all
Americans? Will he allow the Government to intrude on
Americans’ personal privacy and freedoms? In a time when this
Administration seems intent on accumulating unchecked power,
Judge Alito’s views on Executive power are especially
important. It is important to know whether he would serve with
judicial independence or as a surrogate for the President who
nominated him.
The public conversation with Judge
Alito in this hearing room over the next several days is
important. It is the people’s Constitution and the people’s
rights that we are all charged with protecting and preserving.
Through this hearing we embark on the constitutional process
that was designed to protect those rights.
As we begin these hearings, I am
reminded of a photograph that hangs in the
National Constitution Center in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the home of our Chairman. It shows
the first woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court of the United
States taking the oath of office in 1981. Justice Sandra Day
O’Connor serves as a model Supreme Court Justice.
She is widely recognized as a
jurist with practical values and a sense of the consequences of
the legal decisions being made by the Supreme Court. I regret
that some on the extreme right have been so critical of Justice
O’Connor and have adamantly opposed the naming of a successor
who shares her judicial philosophy and qualities. Their
criticism reflects poorly upon them. It does nothing to tarnish
the record of the first woman to serve as an Associate Justice
of the Supreme Court of the
United States. She is a Justice
whose graciousness and sense of duty fuels her continued service
more than six months after she announced her intention to
retire.
The Court that serves
America should reflect
America, but with this nomination the Court has lost a measure
of diversity. There was no dearth of highly-qualified women,
Hispanics, African Americans and other individuals who could
well have served as unifying nominees while adding to the
diversity of the Supreme Court. I look forward to the time when
the membership of the Supreme Court is more reflective of the
country it serves.
As the Senate begins its
consideration of President Bush’s current nomination, his third,
of a successor to Justice O’Connor, we do so mindful of her
critical role on the Supreme Court. Her legacy is one of
fairness that I want to see preserved. Justice O’Connor has
been a guardian of the protections the Constitution provides the
American people.
Of fundamental importance, she has
come to provide balance and a check on Government intrusion into
our personal privacy and freedoms. In the Hamdi
decision, she rejected the Bush Administration’s claim that it
could indefinitely detain a
United States citizen. She upheld
the fundamental principle of judicial review over the exercise
of Government power and wrote that even war “is not a blank
check for the President when it comes to the rights of the
Nation’s citizens.” She held that even this President is not
above the law.
Her judgment has also been
critical in protecting our environmental rights. She joined in
5-4 majorities affirming reproductive freedom, religious freedom
and the Voting Rights Act. Each of these cases makes clear how
important a single Supreme Court Justice is. It is crucial that
we determine what kind of Justice Samuel Alito would be, if
confirmed, and if he would be an independent justice.
It is as the elected
representatives of the American people, all the people, that we
in the Senate are charged with the responsibility to examine
whether to entrust their precious rights and liberties to this
nominee. The Constitution is their document. It guarantees
their rights from the heavy hand of Government intrusion and
their individual liberties to freedom of speech and religion, to
equal treatment, to due process and to privacy. This is their
process.
The federal judiciary is unlike
the other branches of Government. Once confirmed, federal
judges serve for life. There is no court above the Supreme
Court of the United
States. The American people deserve a Supreme Court Justice who
inspires confidence that he, or she, will not be beholden to the
President but will be immune to pressures from the Government or
from partisan interests.
Last October, the President
succumbed to partisan pressure from the extreme right of his
party by withdrawing his nomination of Harriet Miers. By
withdrawing her nomination and substituting this one, the
President has allowed his choice to be vetoed by an extreme
faction within his party, before hearings or a vote. That
eye-opening experience for the country demonstrated what a vocal
faction of the Republican Party really wants: They do not want
an independent federal judiciary. They demand judges who will
guarantee the results that they want.
This nomination is being
considered against the backdrop of another recent revelation --
that the President has, outside the law, been conducting secret
and warrantless spying on Americans for more than four years.
It comes as members of the Bush Administration and Republican
congressional leadership face criminal investigations and
indictments in corruption probes. This is a time when the
protections of Americans’ liberties are directly at risk, as are
the checks and balances that have served to constrain abuses of
power for more than 200 years. The Supreme Court is relied upon
by all Americans to protect their fundamental rights.
I have yet to decide how I will
vote on this nomination. I will base my determination on the
whole record at the conclusion of these hearings -- just as I
did in connection with the nomination of Chief Justice Roberts
whose nomination I came to support.
The stakes for the American people
could not be higher. At this critical moment, Senate Democrats
serving on this Committee will perform our constitutional Advice
and Consent responsibility with heightened vigilance. I urge
all Senators, Republicans, Democrats and Independents, to join
with us in a serious consideration of this pivotal nomination.
The Supreme Court is the guarantor of the liberties of all
Americans. The appointment of the next Supreme Court Justice
must be made in the people’s interest and in the Nation’s
interest, not to serve the special interests of a partisan
faction.
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