Alito is Confirmed

Here's a brief summary on video via CBN of Judge Samuel Alito Voted 110th Supreme Court Justice. See Video Here.

Here's the script:

“The yeas are 58, the nays are 42. The President's nomination of Samuel A. Alito Jr. of New Jersey to be associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is confirmed."

Three months after being nominated, Judge Samuel Alito is now Justice Alito. It was a vote mainly along party lines: 54 of the 55 Republicans voted yes with moderate Republican Lincoln Chafee saying no.

Only four of 44 Democrats voted for Alito. Those four came from states that went for President Bush in the 2004 election: Tim Johnson - South Dakota; Robert Byrd - West Virginia; Kent Conrad - North Dakota; and Ben Nelson - Nebraska.

It was the most partisan vote since Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was approved by a 52-48 vote, something Republicans were quick to point out.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said, "When you have a man who has the decency, the legal abilities and the capacities that Judge Alito has, treated this way, I think it's despicable."

Some Democrats, led by Massachusetts Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, tried to block Alito from getting on the bench, but came up a number of votes short. Republicans say that liberals are not looking at qualifications. They want judges who share their leftist ideology.

"This is not a good day for the future of the judiciary, in the sense that the left is dominating the Democratic Party’s responses, when it comes time to vote," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

The conservative Alito will now replace the moderate Sandra Day O'Connor, something the Democrats had complained about all along.

"President Bush was not obligated to nominate a clone of Justice O'Connor, but this President has no mandate to move this Supreme Court and the American law in a radical rightward direction,” said Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid. That is precisely what replacing Justice O'Connor with Judge Alito will accomplish."

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) said, “A chill wind blows. A chill wind that will snuff out the dying life of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's legacy."

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