Word: souter
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...Souter's record remains a mystery to the Senate. And it's just not that easy fighting a nominee with no record to fight...
...CHOICE and civil rights groups, of course, are urging the Senate to block Souter's nomination if he won't go on the record supporting abortion rights or affirmative action. But pressuring Souter about abortion, as leading pro-choice activist Kate Michelman asked in a statement yesterday, will not defeat the nomination: if anything, it will play right into the bandit's hands...
After all, Souter could--and probably will--sidestep any specific questions merely by saying he needs to see the actual case, or by claiming that he has not really considered such issues at length. The voters have accepted that answer in past confirmation hearings, and the Senate would only look foolish by pressing the issue. What more could Bush...
NONETHELESS, our hero shouldn't just walk away from this fight. The Senate should make Souter answer some questions: questions about his basic philosophies for constitutional interpretation, so that it may, in the words of one legal scholar, "police the outer limits" and "preserve the balance" of the court. That is how it stopped Robert Bork, and that is how it can stop David Souter, if such a rejection is called...
...simply, if Souter refuses to answer any relevant questions whatsoever about his judicial philosophy, then the Senate has every right to run him out of town. The voters might not stand for senatorial haggling over particular issues, but they would surely stand for genuine skepticism over a candidate who won't reveal even his most fundamental beliefs...