In a press conference this morning, Sen. Chuck Schumer voiced his displeasure with President Bush’s nomination of Judge Sam Alito to the Supreme Court, but isn’t threatening to filibuster—yet.
Schumer said portions of Alito’s records were “significantly troubling in terms of him [Alito] turning the clock back and wanting to make law, not interpret” but refused to name particular cases. He said the rulings dealt with, “Civil rights, workers rights, women’s rights, power of the executive, issue after issue, after issue—not just one isolated strain.”
When asked by Human Events if, of the points he was concerned with, he knew anything about Judge Alito’s record that would lead to him to filibuster Schumer said (incorrectly calling Judge Alito Scalia), “Nothing is on the table, nothing if off the table. Let’s learn more about Judge Scalia. The one thing we do know is the President is at decisive moment. He could have chosen a unifying nominee, or he could have chosen somebody who could please the very extreme groups who didn’t like Harriet Miers and he chose the second course. I don’t think that’s good for America and frankly, I don’t think that’s good for the President whatever the outcome of the vote is.”
Although he denied he was considering a filibuster, Schumer did emphasize the confirmation hearings should not be hurried in any way. Schumer went on, ““No one should seek to delay this process for the sake of delay, but even more importantly, no one should seek to rush these hearings through simply to make a point, distract from other issues of the day or avoid thorough review of this nominee.”
