Does Alito Swing Both Ways?
By Keith Boykin, in politics
Thursday, February 2 2006, 11:57AM
George Washington University law professor Paul Butler confidently predicted that Samuel Alito's elevation to Supreme Court Justice this week would lead to the end of affirmative action. "The Supreme Court now appears to have five votes to end affirmative action," he wrote on Blackprof.com today. But in the same day comes the unexpected news that Alito has joined the side of the liberals in his first vote on the High Court.
Alito split with conservatives Wednesday night in refusing to allow Missouri to execute an inmate contesting the constitutionality of lethal injection. The inmate, Michael Taylor, had won a stay of his execution from an appeals court earlier in the day. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas supported the execution, but Alito joined with the remaining five members in a 6-3 decision to block a midnight execution last night. An appeals court will now review Taylor's claim that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment.
Maybe he didn't feel comfortable killing someone in his first act as a Supreme Court Justice, but don't expect that trend to hold out forever. Time will tell.
Comments conceal
Kenneth Winfrey
February 2 2006, 12:31PM
Actually, I haven't felt the same sense of panic over Alito's nomination. I watched portions of the Alito hearings and didn't see a monster. I did see a conservative man who seems to have something other than a personal moral agenda to push... This doesn't surprise me at all, actually.
Troy
February 2 2006, 1:01PM
we're fucked.
r
February 2 2006, 2:19PM
It's not a matter of the man swinging both ways. He's doing what he was trying to get through those thick skulls all along....he looks at the law and bases his decisions on that. Yes, he's conservatives, but damn he ain't a monster. When are y'all gonna wake up and ignore the Kennedy dog and pony shows???
Affirmative Action? It's not the end of the road for blacks if it ends. You'll just have to learn to stop depending on the government so damn much to be your saviour. Anything they give you could potentially be removed or altered.
Jeffrey
February 2 2006, 3:13PM
"R" is quite right...kind of. Under the Bush regime, conservative has become synonymous with monster and this isn't necessarily true, although most of the times it is. However I would also venture to say the same thing about so-called liberals.
No, the end of Affirmative action will not be the "end of the road for blacks" at least not immediately. Of course, if we all just follow "R's "Booker-T.-Washingtonesque-pick-yourself-up-by-
your-bootstraps rhetoric everything will be just fine because Lord knows, us negroes jus' wants a lil ole handout from the masah because we ain't got no dignity or respect, we enjoys bein' po' and in prison. And the thought of our women dying from AIDS jus' warms us up inside like a hot plate of chitlins'with pepper sauce!
But I digress, I will reserve judgement of Alito until he has more of a record before calling him another Earl Warren.
r
February 2 2006, 3:56PM
@Jeffrey - Quite humorous. Do what you must....but i've long since stop putting the welfare of my future totally in government. The result? Quite a comfortable lifestyle for myself and family which has enabled me to contribute my resources and time philanthropically to help others. But....I digress. Us uppity negroes ain't posed ta be thinkin' dat way. We dun't whont da be like and create our ownns wealf cus da otha negroes gonna gets mad at us...so shhhhhh, please don't tell da mass some of us don't gives a damn about affirmative action. LOL!!!
Derrick from Philly
February 2 2006, 4:35PM
r,
Affirmative Action and the fall out of its' concept/influence on private companies was and is essential for black folks to get anywhere in this country. No other ethnic group (except Native Americans) endured the kind of systematic destruction of economic opportunity that black Americans did. And don't tell me about all the black businesses that existed before intergration--after seeing the PBS show "African-American LIves" last night, I now know that black folks were deliberately kept from achieving the same advancement that the Italians, Jews, Irish, German, Asian, Latino and Carribean immigrants have been able to strive for and achieve. How many times were those folks killed and had their businesses burned to the ground just because of their skin color or ethnic origin? Affirmative Action policies were the only way to force white employers to do right.
Now, if the few black businessmen and entrepreneurs that exist could stop being so anti-black Gay & homophobic, I would gladly spend my money with them (that is, when I get some money).
Derrick from PHilly
February 2 2006, 4:38PM
r,
Affirmative Action and the fall out of its' concept/influence on private companies was and is essential for black folks to get anywhere in this country. No other ethnic group (except Native Americans) endured the kind of systematic destruction of economic opportunity that black Americans did. And don't tell me about all the black businesses that existed before intergration--after seeing the PBS show "African-American LIves" last night, I now know that black folks were deliberately kept from achieving the same advancement that the Italians, Jews, Irish, German, Asian, Latino and Carribean immigrants have been able to strive for and achieve. How many times were those folks killed and had their businesses burned to the ground just because of their skin color or ethnic origin? Affirmative Action policies were the only way to force white employers to do right.
Now, if the few black businessmen and entrepreneurs that exist could stop being so anti-black Gay & homophobic, I would gladly spend my money with them (that is, when I get some money).
cmoney
February 2 2006, 7:20PM
His vote didn't make a difference in the outcome of the case, so it was an easy political move for him to make. It proves nothing. Maybe he just wanted to be on the winning side of a vote for a change. I don't trust people like Alito--those who took advantage of the liberalization of the law to get an education and then want to slam the door behind him. As an Italian-American, his kind was new to Princeton. Princeton was notoriously elitist and racist--even against non-WASP caucasians. There are thousands of Irish, Jewish and Italians who were turned away from Princeton because they weren't "the right kind of people". That didn't stop old Alito from getting indignant at the number of blacks and women who were flooding the campus after he left. As long as the barriers were dropped for his kind, every thing was OK. I don't trust him. He's an Italian Clarence Thomas. Let's call him "Clarito".
Legal Rebel
February 3 2006, 1:13PM
Justice Alito's decision to split with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas was purely a procedural measure. This does not really give us insight on his views regarding the death penalty. We need to address his record. During Alito's 15 year tenure with the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the court has considered several habeas corpus petitions concerning the imposition of death sentences. Alito participated in 10 capital cases. In Bronshtein v. Horn. Alito vacated a defendent's death sentence but upheld the underlying conviction. However, in Smith v. Horn Alito dissented from a panel decision invalidating the murder conviction. Alito seems to be very "fact" driven. It will be interesting to see his future decisions on the issue.