I think personally that a lot of Republicans and conservatives may be making a little too much over the reaction from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee concerning Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito's past membership in the conservative Princeton organization, Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP). They point out that this group has in the past claimed members such as former judge and frequent Fox News analyst Napolitano,as well as conservative radio host and pundit Laura Ingraham.
They go on to insist that there is no evidence that Alito had any involvemnt with any of the groups more controversial positions, writings, and declarations. Their position against Affirmative Action programs, for example, in the placement of women, minorites, the handicapped, and gays. They went on to crow that the recent acquisition and perusal of documents from the group from the Library of Congress, in the aftermath of the rather entertaining spectacle of the back-and-forth yesterday between committee chairman Senator Arlen Spector (R-Pennsylvania) and Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), showed no evidence of any degree of particiapation in the group from the nominee. In fact, he wasn't even mentioned.
Alito insisted that his sole degree of support for the group stemmed from his agreement with their position in support of the presence of the ROTC on the Princeton campus. Otherwise, he disavowed any agreement with any of the groups previously mentioned, more controversial positions, and further asserted he did not even belong to any of the gender segregated eating clubs which were a feature of the campus during the time in question, the 1970's.
It was hard not to feel some degree of sympathy for Alito, who will almost certainly be confirmed in his position as Associate Justice to the Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Conor. It was almost impossible to not feel sympathy for his wife, Ms. Baumgartner, who broke down in tears as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) apologized forthe behavior of his coleagues, almost himself at one point near to breaking down in tears. Alito's wife beame so emotional she had to leave the room.
It was high drama, to be sure ( it was certainly worth the price of admission), but it ignores one simple fact that is very easily overlooked. And that is, how could Alito not remember having belonged to the group? How could he "not recollect", as he claimed,the more controversial aspects of the groups mission? When pressed, he certainy remembered the groups stance as to the presence of the ROTC on campus, but even here, the timeline is in dispute.
The controversy actually began during the late nineteen sixties, during the height of the Viet Nam War. By the time of Alito's purported involvement with the group,however, this seems to have become a dead issue. Nothing more than, at most, a few murmurs from die-hard faculty radicals, is my guess, but nothing that had enjoyed any degree of support, either among faculty or the student body as a whole.
Yet, Alito insisted that this was his one reson for joining the group, and that he knew nothing else about them. Yet, he put his membeship, his association, with the group, on his resume when applying for a job in the Reagan Administration in 1984.
Anybody can change, and should be given the benefit of the doubt, and a man of the stature of Alito is certainly no exception to this all too often overlooked rule of humanity. On the other hand, it is one thing to disavow a support or affiliation with prejudice, as Alito rightly did. It is quite another thing all together to conveniently forget, or, as he put it, to "not recall" it.
It was right for Kennedy and the other Democrats on the comittee to bring this matter to the attention of the nation, as well as the matter of Vanguard, where there was some legitimate question as to whether Alito had recused himself from ruling in a case, as an appellate judge, as he promised he would do, when the case came before him. The reason for this was that he had owned a mutual fund with the company, and so there would be a legitimate question as to his ability to judge impartially in the case. However, as it was pointed out, Alito had played no role in the management of this mutual fund, and so his sitting on the case was not improper. Still, he later recused himself,to avoid any apearrance of impropriety,and so the matter in this case seemsto be settled. Still, it was a legitimate matter for discussion before the committee.
And so much more with the matter of the Concerned Alumni of Princeton. It is still troubling, to me at least, not so much that he belonged to the group, but that his memory seems to have become so faulty concerning his past association. Like it or not, it does go to the question of his integrity, though in no other instane before this committee was any legitimate question raised concerning this. I have to wonder if, in this one instance, he is actually the victim of bad advice as pertaining to any discussions of the matter.
Whatever the case, Kennedy and the other Democrats came away looking like bullies, fools, and shills for the extreme left, all of which may be accurrate appraisals, sad to say. And it gave the Republicans a chance to make hay,which of course is what they did, and to great political effect.
Alito will be confirmed, and probably should be, barring any further radical revelations pertaining to his past or his character. His past will probably remained shrouded in mystery over some of these matters, which are more than likely incidental anyway. I have no idea what kind of Supreme Court Justice he will make. Of course he will tend to be conservative, which is not necessarrily a good thing or a bad thing, in and of itself, it is just a thing.
It just depends on the context, and on the case being decided, and even then, it is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I am hoping for the best from this Princeton alumnus. Burr would be proud.
