Captain Ed reports, "Judge Alito just blew Senator Chuck Schumer out of the water on abortion." Schumer aggressively demanded Alito's views on abortion, leading to this exchange:
SCHUMER: Does the Constitution protect the right to free speech?Ouch! That had to hurt.ALITO: Certainly it does. That's in the First Amendment.
SCHUMER: So why can't you answer the question of: Does the Constitution protect the right to an abortion the same way without talking about stare decisis, without talking about cases, et cetera?
ALITO: Because answering the question of whether the Constitution provides a right to free speech is simply responding to whether there is language in the First Amendment that says that the freedom of speech and freedom of the press can't be abridged. Asking about the issue of abortion has to do with the interpretation of certain provisions of the Constitution.
The Washington Post has a portion of the video but not the cited text above (click here).
Update: The Washington Post has now published the full transcript of the exchange which allowed me to update the text above to what was originally quoted from Catain's Quarters.
Judge Alito argued 13 cases before the Supreme Court, reviewed thousands of other cases while on the bench, and excelled academically. Did Schumer really think he'd be able to trip up Judge Alito? Judge Alito, like Chief Justice Roberts before him, will not give Schumer or any other democrat on the Committee the sound bite they are hoping for.
In response to Ryan - this isn't about picking up a sounds byte, its about finding out the judicial philosophy of a man who is in line for a lifetime appointment. In such a situation, Senator's have a solemn duty to poke, prode, and probe as deep into the nominee as they see fit in order to answer the questions of their constituents. Schumer represents a very liberal constituency (especially in NYC) and is bound by his service to exhaust himself and the nominee in order to find the answers that New Yorkers seek.
Pierre - I agree with you as to the role of Senators who are questioning a nominee. Where I disagree is with questioning that does nothing to get at a nominee's judicial philosophy as Schumer did.