Thursday, January 26, 2006

Warranted From the New York Times editorial page re the upcoming Senate vote on Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito: As it stands, it is indefensible for Mr. Specter or any other senator who has promised constituents to protect a woman's right to an abortion to turn around and hand Judge Alito a potent vote to undermine or even end it. But portraying the Alito nomination as just another volley in the culture wars vastly underestimates its significance. The judge's record strongly suggests that he is an eager lieutenant in the ranks of the conservative theorists who ignore our system of checks and balances, elevating the presidency over everything else. He has expressed little enthusiasm for restrictions on presidential power and has espoused the peculiar argument that a president's intent in signing a bill is just as important as the intent of Congress in writing it. This would be worrisome at any time, but it takes on far more significance now, when the Bush administration seems determined to use the cover of the "war on terror" and presidential privilege to ignore every restraint, from the Constitution to Congressional demands for information. Ignoring of Constitutional restraint is not theoretical. It came right into my town, my neighborhood, my library last week. There was a bomb scare e-mailed in to Brandeis University and when, some hours later, after building evacuations, the e-mail was traced back to a computer at the Newton Free Library, eager FBI and local police rushed to the library and tried to confiscate equipment in the second floor computer lab. But the library director Kathy Glick-Weil, joined by our Mayor David Cohen, stood their ground and refused, reminding the police that they NEEDED A WARRANT. After much fumphing around, the FBI produced a warrant about 10 hours later. My question, what makes our good Newton police suddenly feel they can blithely carry out warrantless seizures? Could it be the contagious post-911, terrorism-is-justification mode of the FBI, following the warrantless domestic wiretapping mode of the White House? Senators need to find the same spine as ordinary citizens Ms. Glick-Weil and Mayor Cohen and refuse the Alito nomination and the undemocratic extension of presidential privilege. A filibuster is warranted even if it ultimately does not succeed. -RH                                          9:05:36 PM    comment []

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