Media missing the point on Alitoto lying to the Senate Judiciary Committe.

[BR_Parkway]

Great point from John at Americablog:

We now know that at least three times Judge Alito told the Senate Judiciary Committee, under oath we assume, that he wouldn't hear cases involving certain companies, yet he went ahead and heard those cases anyway.

I'm concerned that the media is already misunderstanding this story.

While CNN's legal affairs expert, Jeffrey Toobin, just said that there does seem to be a distinction between what Alito said he'd do and what he actually did, Tobin then seriously misstated the entire problem.

<snip>

The issue here isn't whether Alito was or wasn't required, under court rules, to recuse himself from these cases. The issue is that Alito promised, seemingly under oath, NOT to hear these cases, period - but then went ahead and heard them anyway. That's a lie. It's also possibly perjury. And at the very least, it suggests he intentionally misled the Senate Judiciary Committee ON THREE SEPARATE OCCASIONS in order to get confirmed.

As for Toobin's second argument, that the reason the case came to Alito was perhaps a computer glitch, again that's not the issue. The question is not HOW the cases came to Alito, the question is WHY Alito didn't recuse himself, as promised under oath, AFTER the cases came to him, regardless of how they came to him.

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/11/media-missing-point-on-scooterlito.html

That's it in a nutshell, and we need to get the word out to the media so they stop covering it the wrong way.

The guy lied - not once, not twice, but three times to get the job. Not exactly SCOTUS material, but certainly what we've come to expect from one of Shrub's money grabbing cronies

Please help spread this message to the rest of the blogs and through LTTE's.

[rzemanfl]

1. Scalia and Thomas did not recuse themselves from Bush v.

Gore although they clearly should have. Scalito will fit right in unless the Dems fillibuster him.

[punpirate]

2. In this round of hearings...

... there ought to be mention of it--in this context: "in your previous confirmation hearings, you assured the Senate that you would recuse yourself in certain cases. When actually on the appellate bench, however, you failed to recuse yourself in exactly those cases you agreed to recuse yourself. You were under oath then, just as you are now. How are we to believe anything you say?"

Blunt, but some bluntness is required if they're going to get down to the nitty-gritty with this guy.

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. Repug = ethically challanged

[oxbow]

4. send this to all the dems on the judiciary committee

anybody have their names or emails?

[dennisnyc]

5. This is major. "Mr. Alito, can we infer that you will only uphold the

Contitution for the first few years of your appointment?"

all the judiciary committee members are listed here:

http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/

You can not be on the Supreme Court if you pull this kind of stuff!

[cantstandbush]

6. The real point is that he complained about being asked to recuse himself,

this means that those cases coming to him were not just mere oversights or computer glitches. He was purposeful in wanting to preside over those cases. Read the court documents.

[dennisnyc]

7. Absolutely, this makes him NOT qualified. Rachel Maddow has been on this

the past few days!

Love Her!

Schumer is my Senator and I have written to him about it--will also call!

[BR_Parkway]

8. But he'd already told the Senate (probably under oath & in writing)

that he would not hear those cases.

He Lied (Big Surprise, he's a Shrub Crony), perhaps for financial gain.

He Lied to get the job (Hell, Burger King would fire you if they found out you lied on your application)

Please keep repeating it until the MSM starts talking about it.

It doesn't matter if he was ethically supposed to recuse - he told the Senate that he WOULD recuse himself to get the job.

If he lied about that to get a job, what does that mean when he says Roe v. Wade is settled? He will keep lying to get on SCOTUS, then do whatever the hell he wants - just like he has already done to get a Federal Appeals Court position.