[PAmedic]

Not really the best place for this I suppose, but the big vote on Capital Hill this AM could really affect the future of our country, not just the Supreme Court.

praying that good decisions will be made here, and the two parties can work together for the good of all of us.

Senate Clears the Way for Final Vote on Alito Confirmation

[Sly Fox]

This is absolutely the place to bring prayer requests.

[PAmedic]

Alito Sworn In as Nation's 110th Supreme Court Justice

Tuesday, January 31, 2006
By Jane Roh

Samuel Alito was sworn in as the nation's 110th Supreme Court justice on Tuesday, less than two hours after the Senate voted 58-42 to confirm him to the nation's highest court.

"Sam Alito is a brilliant and fair-minded judge who strictly interprets the Constitution and laws and does not legislate from the bench. He is a man of deep character and integrity, and he will make all Americans proud as a justice on our highest court," President Bush said in a statement.

Chief Justice John Roberts administered the judicial oath and constitutional oath, by which Alito pledged equal justice for the rich and the poor and to uphold the Constitution, respectively. It was the first time the nation's new chief justice has ever administered the oaths to an associate justice.

Alito and his wife had watched the Senate floor vote with President Bush in the White House. Afterwards, Bush congratulated his nominee and left to host a luncheon of the top news anchors from the networks and cable TV channels for an off-the-record preview discussion of his Tuesday night State of the Union speech.

Accompanied by his wife, Martha-Ann, Alito headed over to the Supreme Court building for his investiture. He and Roberts, both Bush nominees, are expected to attend Tuesday night's address.

The Senate vote put to bed the most partisan Supreme Court nomination battle in recent memory. Four Democrats joined 54 Republicans in support of Alito. Of the court's present justices, only Clarence Thomas received a slimmer margin of victory, 52-48, but even then received the votes of 11 Democrats who broke party ranks.

"I'm concerned about his philosophy of the Constitution, his great effort of many years to expand presidential power at a time when there are real serious questions about the powers the president has," said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who voted against Alito's confirmation.

Reed added that he feared Alito's addition to the bench would mean more decisions restricting Congress' power to legislate.

Sen. Arlen Specter, a pro-choice Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he based his affirmative vote on Alito's credentials, not speculation about the future.

"And we have seen, in the long history of the court, that there's no way to determine in advance how a nominee is going to vote," Specter said. "We have the three authors of the opinion in [Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey] on a woman's right to choose, who had been very much against a woman's right to choose before they got to the court. When they looked at the precedents, when they looked at the tradition, when they looked at the reliance, they supported that principle."

Alito replaces the court's first woman justice, Sandra Day O'Connor, a moderate conservative Reagan nominee and key swing vote on such high-profile issues as abortion, church-state separation and affirmative action. O'Connor has also in recent opinions demonstrated skepticism of President Bush's executive power claims in prosecuting the War on Terror. Alito is widely expected to be friendlier to presidential power arguments.

The vast majority of Democrats, one Republican, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, and the Senate's lone Independent, Jim Jeffords of Vermont, protested Alito's nomination for those very reasons. But a last-ditch effort to filibuster the nomination failed on Monday, when the Senate voted 72-25 to end debate and allow a simple majority vote.

"I think this vote is part of a long practice, ever since the confirmation battle over Justice Rehnquist to become chief justice, where Republican nominees have been treated in a despicable fashion," complained Orrin Hatch, a Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who voted in favor of Alito.

But Reed and other Democrats have been quick to point out that conservative Republicans sabotaged Bush's second choice to replace O'Connor, White House counsel Harriet Miers.

"It's a funny degree of rancor," Reed said, acknowledging that the battle over Alito's nomination had taken some nasty turns. "Just a few weeks ago we were considering Harriet Miers as a Supreme Court nominee, but ... because of opposition in the Republican Party something very, very rancorous drove her out," Reed told FOX News.

Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., blamed the hostilities on Democrats.

"Frankly, I think things have been spiraling down on the judicial nominations in the Senate ever since the Bork vote. It really Borked the whole process," the former Majority Leader told FOX News, referring to failed Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork.

Miers withdrew her nomination less than a month after Bush gave her the nod. Roberts had been the president's first choice but was re-nominated to replace William Rehnquist after the late chief justice died last fall.

Alito, 55, has taken a career path very similar to Roberts'. Both were rising stars in former President Reagan's Justice Department who went on to serve as judges, in Alito's case the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals for 15 years. Unlike Roberts, Alito was a federal prosecutor who has never worked in the private sector.

Alito and Roberts' presence at the State of the Union address will be a boost for the president. The two newest additions to the Supreme Court represent victories for Bush in a year that has been packed with blunders, scandals and unsteady popular support. Bush promised to shift the court rightward in his 2000 and 2004 election campaigns.

While the constitutional oath is generally administered at the White House, separately from the judicial oath, Roberts administered both oaths "so that Justice Alito could begin to participate in the work of the court immediately," according to a statement from the court.

The court also announced that Alito's formal investiture would occur at a later date. Roberts' investiture took place on his first day hearing oral arguments, also the court's opening day last fall. The court is on winter break until Feb. 17, and won't be hearing oral arguments until Feb. 21.

The White House invited senators to attend a reception in Alito's honor Wednesday afternoon. President Bush on Wednesday will be in Nashville, Tenn., where he is giving the traditional post-address policy speech, and is expected to fly back in time for the reception.

O'Connor, who was back in her home state teaching at the University of Arizona Law School, was not present at Alito's swearing in. After Tuesday's events, her resignation, submitted last July, became official.

O'Connor's reputation as a fair-minded, compassionate jurist who is also a strong federalist has eclipsed her significance as the first woman on the nation's highest bench. O'Connor, who turns 76 in March, is retiring to care for her ailing husband.

"Justice O'Connor was the first woman ever to sit on the Supreme Court, and she is one of the most admired Americans of our time, or any time. Our nation is grateful to Justice O'Connor for her extraordinary and dedicated public service, and Laura and I wish her and John all the best," Bush said.

Though some Democrats threatened to filibuster Alito's nomination, it was never a strong possibility. Those in favor of a filibuster were vastly outnumbered, and on Monday the Senate voted 72-25 to end a debate and move to a full floor vote. Alito needed only a simple majority on Tuesday to be confirmed.

Moreover, those pushing for a filibuster, led by Massachusetts Democrats Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, did not have the support of the so-called Gang of 14, which was formed by moderate senators seeking middle ground on judiciary nominees.

The Gang's ground rule for allowing filibusters is whether "extraordinary circumstances" surround the nominee. While the Gang has never explicitly defined what an extraordinary circumstance would be, members privately said they could find nothing extraordinary in Alito's record, which includes 15 years as a judge and a much lengthier paper record than Roberts had.

While Tuesday's vote proceeded as expect, there was one near-surprise: a distracted Democratic Sen. Max Baucus mistakenly voted yes when he meant no. The culprit was Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who was chatting up the Montanan on a pending tax reconciliation bill. Baucus' alarmed colleagues alerted him to the error, and he changed his vote back to a no.

FOX News' Trish Turner contributed to this report.

a tad alarming to see how little some of these guys pay attention.