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Printer-Friendly ModeProbable Alito Court confirmation shows voting importance
January 16, 2006 —
It is not often that the entire landscape of a country changes, especially the United States. There have been some instances of this in the last 100 years: the Great Depression, Hiroshima, the Civil Rights Movement, Roe v. Wade, 9/11, Roe v. Wade again ... oops, we got ahead of ourselves there. Roe v. Wade has not changed the entire landscape of this country again. But it very well could.
With the confirmation of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court likely on its way this week, the self-described conservative may be swinging the Court to a majority conservative group. While not discussing what exactly that could mean, here is one thing to consider: Alito may be the man George W. Bush is relying on to make abortion illegal.
While Alito was noncommittal about his reversing the classic decision - Alito promised an "open mind" on the subject - he was also noncommittal about upholding it.
The aforementioned landscape-changing events were certainly quite important, but only one was caused by the Court. Many major laws in this country have been in place since the 1800s, yet the law regarding abortion was changed just 33 years ago and could be changed again.
The problem is, not many of us seem to be taking notice of such an important change.
After reading this editorial, ask your fellow classmate or lunch partner or whoever it is you may be sitting next to if they know who Samuel A. Alito Jr. is or why his name has been in the news so much lately. Our guess? More times than not, you will get a blank stare or, even worse, a recollection of the O.J. Simpson trial and Judge Ito. And that is simply unacceptable.
While it is true that we as voters do not directly elect Supreme Court judges, we do indirectly elect them. We elect the President as well as those in the Senate; as part of this country's checks and balances system, the President nominates a potential judge, and the Senate has the power to appoint him or her.
Would most liberals love the opportunity to vote on whether to allow Alito on the Supreme Court? Absolutely. But as Representative Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois Democrat said, "George Bush won the election. If you don't like it, you better win elections."
The only way for this country to have as much control as it can over nominations such as Alito's is to become more involved. While the college student age group came out in record numbers in 2004, just as important is that 2006 is an off-year election, where members of Congress are elected.
Supreme Court nominations require two branches of the government to work together, and a part of one of those branches will be elected in November. There's no better time than now to start making your decisions.