The Alito Nomination: A Few Quick Reactions

Article III Groupie actually has a very busy day -- and week -- ahead of her, so she's disappointed that the official announcement of Judge Samuel A. Alito's Supreme Court nomination comes at such a hectic time for her. But hey, the world doesn't revolve around A3G; it just seems that way sometimes. And even if President Bush's timing may not be ideal, his chosen nominee certainly is! (Check out Michelle Malkin's comprehensive round-up of blogospheric reaction, as well as Confirm Them, of course.)

Links to much of UTR's extensive past coverage of Judge Alito are collected in this post; if you're hungry for more information about the nominee, they should keep you well-fed for quite some time. In addition, here are some off-the-cuff observations and queries, plus a few links, concerning this morning's announcement by President Bush that he'll be nominating Judge Alito to the SCOTUS:

1. Does anyone know: When was the last time that a Third Circuit judge was nominated to the Supreme Court (if ever)?*

2. It's interesting to see President Bush turning once again to the Third Circuit for a home run of a pick (Michael Chertoff, Sam Alito), to salvage an initial nomination disaster (Bernard Kerik, Harriet Miers).

3. Judge Alito's acceptance speech was elegant, eloquent, excellent. A3G felt a shiver run up her spine when Judge Alito started to get choked up near the end of his remarks.

4. Some helpful surveys and analyses of Judge Alito's jurisprudence in specific areas: business law (Larry Ribstein); securities law (Dave Hoffman); copyright law (William Patry); sentencing and criminal law (Doug Berman).

5. Battle of the "juniors": Is Samuel A. Alito, Jr., an even stronger SCOTUS nominee than John G. Roberts, Jr.? Professor Ann Althouse thinks so; Ed Whelan, who clerked for Justice Scalia, shares that opinion.

6. Judge Alito is fairly affluent, even if he's not as filthy rich as the justice he would replace if confirmed, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. (Gavel bang: How Appealing.)

7. Democratic Senators Frank Lautenberg and Bill Bradley supported Samuel Alito's prior nominations to serve as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey and a judge on the Third Circuit. (Robe swish: How Appealing.)

8. Judge Alito's family is quite attractive. Judge Alito and his wife, Martha Alito, have two children, Philip Alito and Laura Alito. The kids are too old to be as adorable as Jack Roberts and Josie Roberts, but they're still rather photogenic.

9. Check out the results of Hugh Hewitt's cool SCOTUS poll, which show (a) tremendous support for the Alito nomination and (b) a willingness to consider the consitutional option if the Democrats attempt to mount a filibuster. (Granted, the audience of Hewitt's blog is not representative of the public at large; conservatives like A3G are overrepresented in his readership. But the poll results are still encouraging.)

10. Based on the Google searches bringing people to this blog, it's clear that many of you are curious about Judge Alito's religion. As noted by Professor David Bernstein, Judge Alito is Catholic; if he is confirmed, there will be a Catholic majority on the Supreme Court.

11. Alito's mother, Rose Alito, is amusingly outspoken. This AP article reports as follows:

[Judge Alito] was born on April Fool's Day to a mother who was candid enough to tell the world he was upset that he didn't get the Supreme Court nomination a month ago.... More candid that her son might wish, she said, ''I think he was upset that he didn't get there in the first shot, that Miers got it.''...

If confirmed, Alito would be the fifth Catholic on the Supreme Court. ''Of course he's against abortion,'' his mother said, another comment supporters in Washington might wish she'd held back.

12. As noted here, Judge Alito helped coach his son, Phil Alito, to victory in the 2004 Duke University Moot Court Competition. Phil and his partner, Justin Greenbaum, had to argue "a hypothetical case in which an alternative student publication wanted to publish an article about Sept. 11 praising the terrorist attacks and the students publishing the literary magazine charged their constitutional rights were violated by the school's censorship."

As noted in this comment, given the case the students had to work on, they couldn't have asked for a better coach. At the time, Judge Alito had pending before him a high-profile appeal raising First Amendment issues in the student newspaper context. How neat!

* Update: This appears to be the first time that a Third Circuit judge has been nominated to the Supreme Court. A reader drew A3G's attention to this helpful chart of former Third Circuit judges and how their judicial appointments were terminated (e.g., by resignation, death, and even an impeachment back in 1913). No appointment on the list was terminated because of appointment to the Supreme Court. Although it's possible that a Third Circuit judge could have been nominated but not confirmed to the Supreme Court, A3G is not aware of that happening.

A further update: Howard Bashman confirms that "Judge Alito is also the first judge serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ever to have been nominated to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court." Howard is also a big fan of Judge Alito:

At some point over the days to come, I will explain why I enthusiastically support this nomination. For now, my wife (who thinks Judge Alito is a great person, too) and I just want to take a moment to wish Judge Alito well in the days ahead, for he is a truly kind, intelligent, and compassionate person who undoubtedly will serve the Nation with great distinction on the Supreme Court just as he has served to this point with great distinction as a U.S. Court of Appeals judge.

Comments

[wcl]

anon,
what do natural disasters and man made law have in-freaking-common?

[Ryder]

All the more interesting considering this.

Nervous in court? The question is moot
NEIGHBORS
Star-Ledger, The (Newark, NJ)
April 29, 2004
Author: ROB WILLIAMS; STAR-LEDGER STAFF
Estimated printed pages: 2

* Names: Philip Alito, 17, and Justin Greenbaum, 18

* Hometown: West Caldwell

* Education: Seniors at James Caldwell High School

* Achievement: Won the Duke University Moot Court competition at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

* Competition: Alito and Greenbaum placed first in the mock trial competition held Feb. 21-22 at the university campus.

The two, the only team from New Jersey and the first from their school to participate in the event, also captured best speaker awards, with Alito winning best speaker and Greenbaum placing second.

The team competed as one of 36 high school teams from around the nation selected to argue a mock Supreme Court case against each other before a panel of judges, including real judges and Duke University professors and students.

"It was great," said Greenbaum of their victory. "We really couldn't believe it."

"It was a really gratifying feeling," said Alito. "From the beginning, we knew it was a great opportunity because there are not that many competitions like that. I know there are a few, but Duke seems to be the biggest one I have ever seen, and it incorporates kids from around the country."

The team learned about the competition in November, when their teacher, Suzanne Broffman, approached Alito and another classmate about entering. Alito said his teacher received the letter five days before the deadline, and the team decided to write the required application essay.

The team learned in January they were selected. At that time the other classmate, Matt Dell, was not able to attend the competition and Greenbaum replaced him on the team.

The pair practiced with their teacher and Alito's father, Sam, a federal appellate judge on the 3rd Circuit and former U.S. attorney for New Jersey, combing over Supreme Court precedent to prepare for the case they had to argue. It was a hypothetical case in which an alternative student publication wanted to publish an article about Sept. 11 praising the terrorist attacks and the students publishing the literary magazine charged their constitutional rights were violated by the school's censorship, Greenbaum said.

The team had to be prepared to argue both sides of the case. Greenbaum said the preparation made them confident when they arrived at the competition.

"We were comfortable with the case," said Greenbaum. "We were going against teams that clearly just read what was handed to them. If they asked them something that wasn't in the speech, they were flustered. We were comfortable in moving around and not tied down to the paper."

The two brought home a large trophy, a 3-foot tall award, which caused some delay with security at the airport, Alito said.

"There was a quite a commotion with what to do with the trophy because they knew we couldn't have it with us on the plane because it was a blunt object," Alito said. "So we wrapped it in plastic and after plenty of twists and turns it ended up in the closet of the airplane."

* Back in school: The two high school seniors, who received various congratulations from the school and community, said they are preparing to graduate this year and attend college. Both students are undecided as to what colleges they will attend.

Greenbaum, who is involved in student government and the high school's music program, said he was thinking about majoring in political science.

Alito, an avid reader of Agatha Christie novels and a member of the tennis team, said he plans to study the fields of government, journalism or law.

* Alito's family: Father, Judge Sam Alito; mother, Martha, homemaker; sister, Laura, 16.

* Greenbaum's family: Father, Brad Greenbaum, insurance agent; mother, Lisa, work with husband's insurance agency; sister, Devon, 13.
Caption:
1. Philip Alito, left, and Justin Greenbaum won a national competition in legal argument in North Carolina.
Edition: NORTHWEST
Section: IN THE TOWNS
Page: 5

Copyright 2004 The Star-Ledger. All Rights Reserved. Used by NewsBank with Permission.
Record Number: sl20044091312dde

[Ryder]

You might be right. As I said, It'll be interesting to see!

[In response to Ryder's comment]

Thanks for the info Ryder. In all honesty, I don't think he'll be selecting any more Ave Maria Law graduates if he is confirmed to the high Court. He's much more likely to have a barrage of Yale (and perhaps) U. Penn clerks since he graduated from the former and regularly took clerks from the latter (Penn obviously has the best law school in the 3rd Circuit area).

[You were on CNN!]

Your blog was just discussed on CNN live at 3:52pm. Just thought you would want to know.

[usually happy with A3G]

I expected more from you A3G. "Constitutional Option?" Please, the Republicans named it "nuclear option" in the first place. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_option They don't get to change the term simply because it polls better as something else. Shame on you...

[Ryder]

One of Alito's current clerks is a 2003 graduate of Ave Maria School of Law, the school's first graduating class. It will be interesting to see who Justice Alito hires for his (soon to be) new DC digs.

[Allen Garvin]

If Alito is confirmed, it looks like the 5th circuit will be the only one of the original 9 circuit courts (from 1891) to have never produced a Supreme Court justice (though one nominee not confirmed was produced: Carswell). If there's another vacancy perhaps Bush can remedy this with a fellow Texan like Owen or Garza.

[Chris]

The New York Times reported earlier that Alito was the first ever nominee from the Third Circuit. However, I can't find the article any more (sorry), and they've been wrong on things like this. So take it for what it's worth.

[PENN LAW]

The students at the University of Pennsylvania Law School are very pleased with the nomination of the Honorable Samuel A. Alito. Judge Alito has been extremely kind in hiring many of our students for clerkship positions in the past, and we hope his generosity will continue when he is on the Court.

[anon]

As to #2, remember that by all accounts, Secretary Chertoff failed miserably in his handling of Hurricane Katrina. Should we brace ourselves for a similar serious misstep by Justice Alito?