Alito Up Against Dems

It appears that the Democrats are adamently opposed to Sam Alito despite the fact that they have very little to oppose him on.

Schumer said that while every nominee who aspires to become a Supreme Court justice bears a heavy burden of proving their worthiness, Alito's burden is "triply high."

"First, because you've been named to replace Sandra Day O'Connor, the pivotal swing vote on a divided court; second, because you seem to have been picked to placate the extreme right wing after the hasty withdrawal of Harriet Miers; and, finally, and most importantly, because your record of opinions and statements on a number of critical constitutional questions seems quite extreme," Schumer said during the hearing.

Schumer argued that on issues such as abortion, which Alito has written about in the past, he cannot employ the so-called Ginsburg rule. He and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., added that the growing importance of the court to adjudicate on executive powers adds to Alito's "burden."

"If, tomorrow, we find our questions not being answered, if there's evasion, then I'm afraid that that burden will not be met," Durbin said. "He has gone, I'm afraid, to a marginal position when it comes to the power of the executive. We have to know if this is going to guide him if he is on the Supreme Court."