Libertarian Librarian

I agree with you that Alito is a sound nominee. He has plenty of experience, including his position in the Solicitor General’s Office, his role as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, and his fifteen years on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Early estimates show that he has been involved in about 3,500 cases and has written about 300 opinions. This nominee has a paper trail.

The rhetoric in this fight, in my opinion, will be ratcheted up from that of the Roberts confirmation, but I don't think that we'll end up with a filibuster and the resultant "Constitutional/Nuclear Option" question/controversy. We might get close, but I don't think that will be the end result.

Schumer is already suggesting a delay of Alito's confirmation hearings into next year; not because of any desire to stall, naturally, but because he and his fellow Democrats will need to read everything by and about Alito. Granted, there is a lot to review on Alito, but I think that Schumer's union-esque work slow-down is an attempt to hold-up the confirmation for as long as possible so that Alito is not on the bench for some of the Supreme Court's upcoming cases.

One example of such a case is Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England et al. (Docket No. 04-1144), which is questioning the First Circuit's ruling regarding New Hampshire's parental notification statute. While it is pure speculation on my part, I am rather certain that Schumer et al. would like to avoid having a Justice Alito hearing arguments and casting a vote on this case when it starts on November 30th.

Another example would be Rumsfeld et al. v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, Inc., et al., which is scheduled to start on December 6th. That case will be looking at whether there is a First Amendment violation regarding the withholding of specific federal funding from institutions of higher education that deny military recruiters the same access to campuses and students that is provided to other employers.

We'll see how it all plays out, but I predict a raucous fight ending in Alito’s confirmation some time in December.