TEXT OF PATRICK LEAHY'S SPEECH ON ALITO, Read & comment

[debbierlus]

http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200601/011906.html

Do you think this hints to a filibuster?

Interesting.

Very interesting.

[cali]

1. Terrific speech

Strong words. He gets the danger and spells it out. Will it lead to a filibuster? Who knows. But everyone here should read that speech.

[debbierlus]

2. We just need to keep the pressure on - relentlessly!

[nealmhughes]

3. RE: Leahy v. Alito

I have wondered why Bush made the two recent court choices he did: Myers as an "omigod!" so that someone like Alito who could manage to speak for hours without saying anything of substance with professorial gravitas would seem "more welcome" to the Full Senate.
The problem is that Alito is Alito. He seems rigid and lacking any concept of "justice tempered with mercy". Perhaps this is an odd question, but for someone who only spent a couple of years in private practice, has 2 twenty-something kids and supposedly only the income from his government jobs, doesn't he seem to have a lot of stock and investments? I've always wondered about people like that...
Now, if Bush wanted to put a centrist Republican on the court or as UN ambassador, there is someone from Maine who is not very busy right now: his name is Sec./Sen. Cohen

[Sydnie]

4. Wow -

First, Welcome to POSTING on DU. :hi: What took you so long? :hug: Glad to have you with us.

Yes, he does have many investments. Vanguard was one of those investments. He is a millionaire. It was a joke that he didn't care what the salary was.

[newyawker99]

16. Hi nealmhughes!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[EVDebs]

15. Remember the "Rex 84" plan of Ollie North and his buddies ?

During the Reagan years while 41 was VP and Ollie and Co. were drawing up plans for 'suspension of the Constitution' ?

Operations Garden Plot and Cable Splicer were to allow for the detention of all dissenters during wartime and civil unrest; campgrounds (American gulags) were to be created to house the dissenters (read DUers and all other politically incorrect types offering up criticism of govt, even if valid criticism nonetheless).

Samuel Alito was sitting in the Office of Legal Counsel to the White House offering up determinations of constitutionality at that time period, see

"From 1985-1987, Alito served in the Office of Legal Counsel as Deputy Assistant Attorney General where he provided constitutional advice for the Executive Branch"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/judicialnominees/alito.html

We must not forget to thank the WH for providing DUers with this salient piece of information, otherwise we would never hear about it and put '2 plus 2' together, to paraphrase George Orwell.

Justice John Robert's history isn't much different from Alito's :

"From 1982 until 1986, Justice Roberts served in the White House as Associate Counsel to President Ronald Reagan.

His duties in the White House included reviewing bills submitted to the President by the Congress, drafting and reviewing Executive Orders, and generally reviewing the full range of presidential activities for legal problems."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/judicialnominees/roberts.html

Rex 84 and most of the other 'suspension of the Constitution' matters were promulgated by Executive Orders...see list at weblink

FEMA
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/pages/fema.html

Alito's boss Wm. French Smith may have opposed the Rex 84 plans but we never got to hear Alito's opinions about the Executive Orders or the entire scheme to 'suspend the Constitution'.

Maybe Sen Leahy and the Dems will require this testimony prior to the lifetime appointment. Ya Think ?

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

5. Great speech by Sen. Leahy.

This one paragraphy was my favorite: "
No President should be allowed to pack the courts, and especially the Supreme Court, with nominees selected to enshrine presidential claims of government power. Our system was designed to ensure a balance and to protect against overreaching by any branch. The checks and balances that should be provided by the courts, Congress and the Constitution are too important to be sacrificed to such an agenda. The Senate stood up to President Roosevelt when he proposed a court-packing scheme. And today, the Senate should not be a rubber stamp to this President’s effort to move the law dramatically to the right and to give him unfettered leeway. I will not lend my support to an effort by this President to move the Supreme Court and the law radically to the right and to remove the final check within our democracy."

I've been wondering why the Democrats haven't used the phrase "packing the Court" more. Hell, it worked against FDR in the 1930's, why wouldn't work again now against the Pukes?

I know the corporate media and the right-wing would howl partisan politics, but at this point I think this would be a very timely comparison.

IMHO, "packing the Court" is exactly what the Chimp in Chief is trying to do.

[debbierlus]

7. Sounds like he is laying the foundation for a filibuster

Let's hope!

[mcscajun]

20. "packing the Court" was more about numbers and ideology than

just simply ideology alone.

The 'Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937', proposed by FDR would have given him the power to appoint another Supreme Court Justice for every sitting Justice who was over 70.

The bill called for (but did not mandate) all federal judges to retire by age 70. If they did not, the president could appoint another judge to serve (in tandem) with each one older than 70.

The practical effect would have allowed FDR to appoint six additional Supreme Court justices immediately (based on the ages of the sitting Justices that year) and would have expanded the court to 15 members. A Congress dominated by Democrats would have confirmed judges who would rule favorably on FDR's New Deal initiatives.

[cali]

6. kick

really, read this speech. It's worth it.

[mom cat]

8. Great speech. K&R

[ourbluenation]

9. You scream I scream we all scream for FILLIBUSTER! K and R!

That thing has fillibuster all over the damn place. Fingers crossed!

[bridgit]

10. The Nominee Cannot Demonstrate Independence...

filibuster, do it, push the button :thumbsup: they won't have their puppets answer questions before the people? then make them do the dance

[bridgit]

11. filibuster kick...

:kick:

[WyLoochka]

12. morning kick for FILIBUSTER

[DoYouEverWonder]

13. Saw the rerun on C-SPAN last night

Leahy nailed it.

[mom cat]

14. IT IS FILIBUSTER FRIDAY...LINK:

CALL ALL YOUR SENATORS LOCAL DISTRICT OFFICES NOW TO OPPOSE ALITO

We have gotten many emails from our participants, asking "what more can we do?" Some have reported senators arbitrarily turning off their answering machines at night, or long waits on hold. Are they trying to hide from the thousands and thousands of their constituents who are raising their voices to demand that they filibuster the evasive Alito? Even if you have already sent your personal message by email or made some phone calls, we have added a FABULOUS extra function to the main action page where you can instantly lookup all your senators local district offices phone and fax numbers with just one click.

http://www.nocrony.com

SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT FILIBUSTER FRIDAY

If the other side can have a so-called "Justice Sunday", we can have our own "Filibuster Friday", and that day is tomorrow. In just the last 24 hours we have seen a major shift in momentum. Today, Senator Leahy came out with a very strong statement that he recognizes the immense threat to our freedom and democracy in allowing a dangerous and unpopular president to install a fifth and controlling vote to hold that our Constitution actually intended to create an executive dictatorship. Tomorrow we need to show our support for those senators who are starting to stand up now by hitting every phone they've got right down to the district level with our phone calls and faxes. Get all your numbers with one easy click at

http://www.nocrony.com

Those you who like to call in to progressive radio programs, we have all their call in numbers too at the site above in the right column. Call them and ask them to talk up Filibuster Friday all day and night long! Let's start early and snowball the thing all day long. Ask them to give out the easy to say and remember URL above as much as possible. Senators have said they are "undecided" on a filibuster. But we the American people HAVE decided and all our senators have to do it get it.

Some senators who are too still too cowardly to demand a filibuster are saying they will make Alito an issue in the 2006 election. It'll be an issue alright, in their OWN primaries! Any officeholder who will not stand up for this one must never hold public office in any capacity ever again. And the difference is whether you will stand up YOURSELF right now and make those calls to their local district offices. Make calls to the toll-free numbers 888-355-3588, 888-818-6641 and 800-426-8073 if you can get through there too.

It is not enough to vote "No." They must vote "Hell, NO!" It's called a filibuster. Filibuster Friday.

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so at http://www.usalone.com/in.htm

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[toad12]

17. That's my senator...

:loveya:

[bettyellen]

18. he maybe a guest on "State of Belief" this weekend...

the new radio show on sundays at 5pm on Air America. It's not final yet, i'll post if he is.

[Czolgosz]

19. Great speech!