Stop Alito and Reclaim our democracy!

(Paraphrased and quoted from "Filibuster Bush and Impeach Alito" by Paul Loeb 01/16/06)

Our Senators should filibuster Alito’s confirmation!

Senators could spell out the links between runaway executive power and a nominee who has consistently ruled and spoken in favor of the unaccountable expansion of that power.

They could talk about how they'd have readily accepted a more moderate nominee, much as Clinton nominated Steven Breyer and Ruth Ginzberg in part because Orrin Hatch said he'd accept them as preferable to other proposed justices. They'd use the filibuster to educate as well as impede.

They could address the real roots of why Alito would be so destructive.

• They could read from articles and books about this administration's abuse of presidential power.
  
  
• They could talk about whether we really want government officials to be able to strip us of our rights at will, and listen in on our phone and email conversations without a court order,
  
  
• and infiltrate the citizen groups through which we gather peacefully to express our beliefs.
  
  
• They could talk about what it's like to be discriminated against, then told you don't meet an impossible burden of proof,
  
  
• and whether police should be able to shoot unarmed 15-year-olds who flee after stealing $10.
  
  
• They could talk about the Sago mine disaster, and where regulations gutted at every turn. They could make clear their real-world consequences.

In the process they could remind America that this president, with this track record of lies, deceptions, and favors for the most destructive private interests, deserves no presumption of deference. And that when he nominates someone, like Alito, who will only further his abuses of power, Senators have a moral responsibility to oppose him however they can. The wink-and-nod games of the hearings were designed to obscure Alito's record and frame him as genial and reasonable. If the Democrats accept this, or even quietly vote against him without further protest, they further the lie that this is an ordinary nomination in an ordinary time. If they filibuster and stand firm, there's a chance that the now politically weakened Republicans will back down and not risk putting themselves on the line for destroying nearly 200 years of Senate tradition for the naked goal of increasing their power. But Democrats have to take the risk of standing strong, and we as ordinary citizens have to do all we can to convince them to do so.