Judge Memento

Okay, I know I said I didn’t have anything more to say about Alito unless and until the Dems start filibustering his lying ass, as well they should, but I just can’t pass up a quick comment on this preposterous nonsense:

Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito was aggressively questioned Wednesday by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee who accused him of inconsistencies on issues ranging from voting rights to ethics to his membership in a conservative organization…

[Sen. Pat Leahy of Vermont] listed several concerns, among them Alito's comments on the principle of one-man, one-vote and his inability to recall details about his membership — which he listed on a Reagan administration job application — in a conservative organization that opposed the admission of women and minorities at Princeton University, Alito's alma mater…

Leahy first mentioned Alito's membership in the Concerned Alumni of Princeton, a group that opposed admission of increased numbers of women and minorities.

"I really have no specific recollection of that organization," Alito said, although he did not dispute that he belonged to it.

Bullshit. What kind of person holds so strong an opinion about keeping their own alma mater exclusively white and male that they join an organization to support such wanton bigotry…and then forgets they ever belonged? That’s like my not remembering having been a member of GLABA or PB&J during college; why, it just slipped my mind that I was a supporter of gay rights and peace! This guy’s a lying schmuck. Or he has brain damage.

Democrats also voiced concern about Alito's answers concerning whether he told the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that he should not be hearing cases involving investment company Vanguard. He holds six-figure investments with Vanguard.

Alito promised the Judiciary Committee at his 1990 confirmation hearing as an appellate judge that he would remove himself from cases that present a conflict of interest. He said his participation in a 2002 Vanguard case was an oversight, although he also said he didn't do anything wrong. The American Bar Association and his supporters have accepted that explanation…

Sen. Russ Feingold D-Wis., pressed Alito on whether he had told the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that he should not be hearing cases involving investment company Vanguard. He holds six-figure investments with Vanguard.

"So you don't recall whether you notified them or not?" Feingold asked.

"I do not. No," Alito said.

Quite a memory this bloke has got. Promised he would recuse himself from cases in which he had a conflict of interest, then ruled on a case involving Vanguard, with whom he has significant investments. Doesn’t remember whether he notified them or not, but knows for sure that he didn’t do anything wrong. That’s bloody amazing.

Not only can I not believe this wanker can deliver such a pile of stinking horseshit with a straight face, I can’t believe the GOP, even as thoroughly unsurprised as I ought to be by this point, is defending him. Corrupt, unprincipled bastards.