Maria Cantwell's Statement on Alito:

[joemurphy]

<http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=250947>

Cantwell Votes Against Alito
Only Northwest Senator to Oppose Both Alito and Roberts


Tuesday, January 31,2006


WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tuesday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) voted against the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., making her the only senator in the Pacific Northwest to oppose the nominations of both Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Alito.
Based on Alito’s record as a jurist and following the answers he gave in response to her questions during their face-to-face meeting on Monday afternoon about the right to privacy, the balance of power between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government and the rights of the individual versus the government, Cantwell released the following statement on her decision to vote against Alito’s nomination:

“I am very concerned with Judge Alito’s record regarding an individual’s constitutional right to privacy. While I do not expect any judicial nominee to prejudge future cases, I do expect all nominees to make their positions clear on protecting the most basic rights of individuals and the fundamental structure and foundations of our democracy. In the end, I cannot be sure that Judge Alito would do either.

“Judge Alito has a record of concern when it comes to placing and consolidating the rights of the government over the rights of the individual and he has not provided the answers to adequately reassure the people of our nation. I must conclude that he would neither show due respect for the authority of Congress nor apply a necessary check to the reach of the executive. With great respect for the institution, I cannot vote to confirm Judge Alito to the Supreme Court of the United States.”

[channa18]

1. I love you Maria.

[radio4progressives]

5. She voted for Cloture. She cancelled her own vote.

despite thousands of telephone calls, faxes and emails, she betrayed her own position and her constituents.

[trotsky]

10. Exactly.

What does her "no" vote accomplish? Absolutely nothing. Alito is now on the court for life.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

18. Vichycrat - replace with real democrat ASAP

nm

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

2. Big fucking deal - She voted for cloture

And that was the real vote.

[grytpype]

3. Jesus, how many of these are you going to post? 100?

[joemurphy]

6. You don't need to read them if you don't want to. n/t

Or, you can put me on ignore. Some are interested in them.

[senseandsensibility]

13. I appreciate them

Thanks.

[LittleClarkie]

12. I count 11 so far. We're at level 2 on the board

so what we really need is 100 Senator statements, doncha know.

[joemurphy]

15. Oh, sorry...I didn't notice that. I'll stop then. n/t

[LittleClarkie]

16. No worries. Sorry if I sounded snotty. It's a good idea to do,

just not right now. Please do continue when the board isn't in high traffic mode. Hopefully the new servers will help that problem.

[ikojo]

4. Did she vote to support the filibuster?

If she did not vote to support the filibuster then her no vote on Alito is empty. As a matter of fact, all of the votes against Alito are empty because they accomplished NOTHING. Those votes provided cover for a party that has been supine for a president with very low approval ratings.

So he got on the Supreme Court with the fewest votes ever, HE IS STILL ON THE COURT!!!!

He can still do much damage for working people.

I listened to Mike Malloy's show from 1/30 and I am with Mike,all the demonstrations wont change a thing. We need to start at the ground level and take over the Democratic party from the corporatists who currently control the party.

[joemurphy]

8. She voted against the filibuster n/t

[bahrbearian]

7. Maria should have voted no on Clouture.. then we wouldn't have

this problem, but she does a progressive Dem challenger. Mark Wilson http://www.votemark.org/

[patrioticliberal]

9. MARK WILSON

votemark.org

[xchrom]

11. she FOR alito because of her vote on cloture.

ergo she wanted alito on the bench.

[Vadem]

14. Time for her to go, along with the other 17 traitors.........n/t

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

17. Just another Vichycrat

Useless cloture voting ....

[Tactical Progressive]

19. What a sack of

"Pacific Northwest" manure that is.

That statement is totally dishonest, using small truths to tell a big lie. She broke ranks and voted to stop the Democratic filibuster that was trying to keep Alito off the court.

Did you see her after the SotU trying to get close to Bush as he left the hall? He paid attention to her for about two seconds then blew her off. I snickered.