DoubleSpeak with Matthew and Peter Slutsky

The Final Roll Call Vote on Alito

No surprises but worth putting up on the site. From the New York Times…

Senate Roll Call: Alito Vote

The 72-25 roll call by which the Senate voted to end debate on Samuel Alito’s Supreme Court nomination. On this vote, a “yes” vote was a vote to end the debate and a “no” vote was a vote to filibuster the nomination. Voting “yes” were 19 Democrats and 53 Republicans. Voting “no” were 24 Democrats and one independent.

Alabama
Sessions (R) Yes; Shelby (R) Yes.

Alaska
Murkowski (R) Yes; Stevens (R) Yes.

Arizona
Kyl (R) Yes; McCain (R) Yes.

Arkansas
Lincoln (D) Yes; Pryor (D) Yes.

(more…)

Jan 31, 2006 by Matthew Slutsky in
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Samul ScAlitoBork

has been confirmed by the United States Senate by a vote of 58-42. See the post below for the brave Democratic Senators who joined together to truly try to stop this confirmation.

Jan 31, 2006 at 11:34 AM | No Comments »

The Brave 25

While the Senate voted yesterday in favor of cloture in the Alito nomination and will almost certainly confirm the nominee today, there is a small light at the end of the tunnel. For the first time in recent memory, the leadership of the Democratic party chose to side with the activist wing of the party and take a principled stand against the extreme right wing of this country that wishes to turn back the clock on civil rights and economic progress. If you have a moment, thank these twenty five brave Senators who voted against the extremist views of Samuel Alito:

Bayh, Evan (D-IN)
Biden, Joseph R., Jr. (D-DE)
Boxer, Barbara (D-CA)
Clinton, Hillary Rodham (D-NY)
Dayton, Mark (D-MN)
Dodd, Christopher J. (D-CT)
Durbin, Richard (D-IL)
Feingold, Russell D. (D-WI)
Feinstein, Dianne (D-CA)
Jeffords, James M. (I-VT)
Kennedy, Edward M. (D-MA)
Kerry, John F. (D-MA)
Lautenberg, Frank R. (D-NJ)
Leahy, Patrick J. (D-VT)
Levin, Carl (D-MI)
Menendez, Robert (D-NJ)
Mikulski, Barbara A. (D-MD)
Murray, Patty (D-WA)
Obama, Barack (D-IL)
Reed, Jack (D-RI)
Reid, Harry (D-NV)
Sarbanes, Paul S. (D-MD)
Schumer, Charles E. (D-NY)
Stabenow, Debbie (D-MI)
Wyden, Ron (D-OR)

Atrios points out that five of these Senators are up for re-election this year. And Digby has a wonderful post mortem up. Notice that every presidential hopeful in ‘08 voted against Alito. The tide is turning.

Jan 31, 2006 by Joshua Skaroff in
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Looks Like It’s Over…We Lost

The US Senate this afternoon voted 72 to 25 to invoke cloture on the debate over the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to become the next Associate Justice to the Supreme Court. Invoking cloture is necessary before the Chamber can have a final vote on the nomination. 60 votes are required to invoke cloture; and only a simple majority vote is required to approve a nominee. Passing this motion virtually assures that the nomination will be approved tomorrow.

The final vote on the confirmation is scheduled to be held tomorrow at 11:00 Eastern Time in advance of President Bush’s annual State of the Union Address when he will speak to a Joint Session of Congress.

Jan 30, 2006 by Peter Slutsky in
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Sen. Chaffee (R-RI) will vote “No”

on Alito’s confirmation Daily Kos is reporting. The seal has been broken, is there any chance the flood will come?

UPDATE: Sen. Chaffee will vote ‘no’ on Alito, but ‘yes’ on cloture, essentially cutting off debate and securing a victory for Bush and the Republican Congress. By voting to cut off debate, while at the same time voting against the nomination, Chaffee is simply pandering to his pro-choice constituents. He doesn’t care.

Jan 30, 2006 at 12:15 PM | No Comments »

Casey Jr. Supports Alito

It was probably to be expected, but Bob Casey Jr., the Rendell/Schumer annointed anti-choice Democratic candidate picked to run against Rick Santorum in the 2006 PA Senate election, came out this morning in favor of the nomination of Alito to the Supreme Court.

For weeks, Republicans have called Casey “Silent Bob” and pressed him to say whether he supports Alito’s confirmation. Casey and Alito have a family connection because Alito, who serves on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Philadelphia, sided with Casey’s father, the late Gov. Bob Casey, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The case challenged a state law requiring women seeking abortions to notify their spouses.

“I do not agree with everything that Judge Samuel Alito has done or said - particularly many of his rulings which too often result in corporate power prevailing over the interests of consumers and workers,” Casey said in a statement. “However, I agree with The Philadelphia Inquirer and Washington Post editorial boards that the arguments against Judge Alito do not rise to the level that would require a vote denying him a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Casey has had a relationship with Alito dating back to the judge’s dissent in favor of Casey’s father in the Planned Parenthood vs. Casey case. Unfortunately this endorsement is another step towards the right’s goal of blocking women from the basic human right to choose. Chuck Pennachio, another candidate for the PA nomination, has some words for Casey on his blog.

Jan 25, 2006 by Joshua Skaroff in
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