Hey, remember that guy… Alito? Who got nominated for the Supreme Court a while back? Guess the Friday before the Christmas holiday weekend is a good time for the release of some interesting memos. Let’s all try to remember these later, when he’s back in the news for real in the midst of his Senate confirmation hearings.
ABC News: Alito Argued to Overturn Roe in 1985 Memo
WASHINGTON Dec 23, 2005 — Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito wrote in a June 1985 memo that the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion should be overturned.
The June 3, 1985 document was one of 45 released by the National Archives on Friday. A total of 744 pages were made public.
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In paperwork released earlier from Alito’s time in the Justice Department’s solicitor general’s office, he recommended a legal strategy of dismantling abortion rights piece by piece. And as part of an application for a job as deputy assistant attorney general, Alito said the Constitution does not guarantee abortion rights.
The latest memo is certain to stir controversy as the Senate prepares for confirmation hearings for Alito, slated to begin Jan. 9.
Charles Fried, a Reagan administration solicitor-general, two decades ago noted the implications of the memo in his introduction, “I need hardly say how sensitive this material is, and ask that it have no wider circulation.”
Alito Said Attorneys General Can’t Be Sued for Illegal Wiretaps
Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) — Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito wrote in a 1984 memo that U.S. attorneys general should be immune from being sued for ordering illegal wiretaps.
Even so, Alito, then a Justice Department lawyer, recommended against pressing the claim in a case involving 1970s wiretaps ordered by former Attorney General John Mitchell to investigate a suspected plot to kidnap National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger and blow up utility tunnels in Washington.
Oh, that’s interesting. Bush and Alito, hand in hand and skipping among the violets and trampling rights as they go. What a happy picture.
Yes, the timing is particularly good. A recent poll shows about 54% of Americans favor Alito’s nomination. They won’t remember about this stuff in mid-January when his hearings start. Nice one, Bushco.