Yes, we really need to do something about the Senate too. Do you have any idea what the numbers were like when Bush was trying to get Roberts (and the unsuccessful woman whose name I've forgotten) through? I know it was somewhat difficult for him then, but he still managed it.
The media buzz about her being unqualified actually originated on the far right, not on the left as many people think. Specifically, righists were concerned that she might favor abortion rights, given that she's a woman and all. In other words, they opposed her because she's a woman and the "unqualified" attack is a typical mysogynist claim to make against a woman. In fact, her qualifications, while not overwhelming, were equal to some past judges who did fine. How much better does a woman need to be than a man before she's considered equivalent? That was the entire dynamic of the attack. My gods, she would have been better than Alito.
Considering that she had no con law experience, very little appellate experience, and showed ignorance of constitutional law during her confirmation hearings, I don't think she was qualified. (If the other judges had similar credentials to her, though, then they weren't qualified either. Sexism may well have been at play, but she was still a bad nominee.)
Roberts was actually confirmed 78-22 and Alito 58-42. Roberts was an easier confirmation because he was replacing Renhquist, who was very conservative. (He was originally nominated to replace O'Connor but then Renhquist died and Bush withdrew that nomination.) Alito replaced O'Connor who was considered a swing vote, and that was a closer vote.
The Roberts vote bothered me a lot, both because some of the Democrats on the judiciary voted to let the nomination go to the Senate and because it was an easy confirmation. I know there's a tradition of letting Supreme Court nominees at least out of Committee and to give the President some courtesy on his nominations, but given the harm the Roberts court has done (and the unlikelihood of the GOP ever showing the same courtesy these days) I just don't like it.
I am trying to make myself feel better about Joe Biden by seeing he was a no vote in Committee and in the full Senate on Roberts and Alito.
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The Roberts vote bothered me a lot, both because some of the Democrats on the judiciary voted to let the nomination go to the Senate and because it was an easy confirmation. I know there's a tradition of letting Supreme Court nominees at least out of Committee and to give the President some courtesy on his nominations, but given the harm the Roberts court has done (and the unlikelihood of the GOP ever showing the same courtesy these days) I just don't like it.
I am trying to make myself feel better about Joe Biden by seeing he was a no vote in Committee and in the full Senate on Roberts and Alito.
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