|
It's Time to Speak Out about Alito
A Crucial Moment: "We the People" Must Speak Out The Council for Secular Humanism Calls on Supporters to Urge Their Senators to Reject Samuel Alito’s Nomination to the Supreme Court We have heard enough – yet we have heard nothing. This past week, the Senate Judiciary Committee spent three days questioning President George W. Bush’s latest Supreme Court nominee, Samuel Alito. Unfortunately, rather than giving answers, Alito often responded to the senators’ questions with benign platitudes and generalizations. Absent new information, Alito has forced us to distill his judicial philosophy from his past experiences, experiences that make us very concerned. Now, it is vitally important that the Senate and the people are aware of the danger to our democracy implicit in Alito’s judicial philosophy. "Alito’s writings, speeches, and judicial opinions reveal a judicial philosophy that would lead America down a dangerous path," said David Koepsell, Executive Director of the Council for Secular Humanism. "Instead of furthering our founders’ intent toward individual liberties and religious freedoms, Alito would favor a nation of expansive executive power."
Dear [ Decision Maker ] , I am writing to express my concern about the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. Studying his writings, speeches, and judicial opinions reveals a judicial philosophy that would shift America away from our tradition of personal liberties and toward a system of expanded executive power. His opinions involving privacy rights, women's reproductive rights, civil liberties, and presidential wartime powers diminish the status of individual rights and show he is willing to abandon judicial protections. During the hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Alito said nothing to assuage our concerns. He dodged questions by resorting to broad platitudes and generalizations. His responses failed to inform the people of his true intentions and betrayed disrespect for the Senate and the nomination process. All nominees say they will uphold the Constitution. The concern, of course, is how they will interpret the Constitution. Alito's record reveals that he is a strong federalist who favors an all-powerful chief executive, often at the expense of the Congress, the courts, and the people. His views represent an unacceptable shift away from mainstream legal understanding to an extreme reinterpretation of law. Because it is your duty as a Senator to provide advice to the President and the country regarding judicial appointees, for the above reasons, I urge you reject the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.
Sincerely, |
Campaign Launched: |
| Background Information |
The question for Alito is not "Will you favor a personal or political agenda over the Constitution?" Every nominee says he or she will follow the law. "We are concerned about how he will interpret the law and the separation of church and state," said Edward Tabash, Chair of the Council’s First Amendment Task Force. "Judge Alito has ruled in favor of organized prayer at public high-school graduation ceremonies and in favor of public elementary schools distributing evangelical literature," he continued. "It is clear that his interpretation of the First Amendment would upset the Court’s balanced position regarding government neutrality toward religious matters." "We are also deeply concerned about Judge Alito’s position on abortion rights, especially since he refused to say whether or not Roe v. Wade is ‘settled law,’" said Paul Kurtz, founder of CSH. "We need to ask if Judge Alito’s religious faith will take precedence over his constitutional duty to examine cases impartially. This is particularly important since Pope John Paul II’s Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae), issued in 1995, declared ex cathedra that it is a sin for a Roman Catholic legislator to do anything to further abortion, artificial insemination, and therapeutic stem- cell research." America is struggling with the balance between national security and personal liberties. Confronted with the very real problems of warrantless wiretapping, secret CIA prisons, and torture memos, Alito’s position as a federalist causes even greater concern. Many of his decisions have favored an all-powerful chief executive, often at the expense of the Congress, the courts, and the people. His opinions involving privacy rights, freedom of speech, civil liberties, and wartime powers have all diminished the status of individual rights and show an eagerness to abandon judicial protection in favor of increased presidential influence. In fact, Alito’s skillful diversions make even more sense and cause even more concern as we learn that his coaches during the nomination process were the same lawyers who have argued in favor of the legality of the questionable wiretapping, detention, and torture policies of the Bush administration. These issues will most certainly come before the Supreme Court. How will Alito manage an impartial decision? Our concerns with the major issues of church and state separation, individual liberty, and constitutional separation of powers lead us to conclude that the Senate should not accept the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. This decision will define our nation for generations to come and, therefore, demands our attention now.
We encourage you to call your senators to let them know where you stand.
