political_talk

Sen. Dick Durbin to Samuel Alito: Your record raises troubling questions about whether you appreciate the checks and balances in our Constitution...

Sen. Durbin's [D-ILL] prophetic comment to Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito during Alito's 2006 confirmation hearings.

Your record raises troubling questions about whether you appreciate the checks and balances in our Constitution -- the careful efforts of our Founding Fathers to protect us from a government or a president determined to seize too much power over our lives,

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Source: Associated Press

Samuel A. Alito: A judge can't have any agenda......

Faced with the well-founded skepticism of the Democrats during his confirmation hearings in 2006, Samuel A. Alito attempted to present himself to the Senate Judiciary Committee as an "open-minded judge with no agenda other than the rule of law".

A judge can't have any agenda, a judge can't have a preferred outcome in any particular case, and a judge certainly can't have a client.

A judge's only obligation -- and it is a solemn obligation -- is to the rule of law. And what that means is that in every single case, the judge has to do what the law requires.

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Source: NPR - Day One: Alito Stresses Rule of Law