Alito Support Letter
A letter signed by law professors, private attorneys, and government lawyers endorsing Judge Alito has been sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee. It's a pretty impressive list of names. From a quick review of the names, I recognized Prof. Stephen Bainbridge, Prof. Eugene Volokh, and Prof. Todd Zywicki. The blog world is well represented.
Maureen Mahoney's name is on there too. Mahoney has been getting a lot of attention in the past 6 months as a possible Bush judicial appointee, possibly even for the Supreme Court. She's a top appellate lawyer, former Rehnquist clerk, and former colleague of Chief Justice Roberts when he worked in the Solicitor General's office. A lot of people see her as the female version of Roberts. The only problem is Grutter v Bollinger, the affirmative action case that Mahoney argued and won in favor of the program. She is also on record as personally supporting the decision. Most conservatives would be opposed to putting a pro-affirmative action Justice onto the Court. But as a replacement for Justice Stevens or Ginsburg, I think that she would be a major improvement and an option for a weakened Republican party. It would still be a huge, huge risk. The next nomination is the big one. It's the one that can form a solid conservative voting bloc that doesn't rely on pulling Justice Kennedy off of the fence. Put Mahoney on the DC Circuit and see what kind of judge she turns out to be.
Maureen Mahoney's name is on there too. Mahoney has been getting a lot of attention in the past 6 months as a possible Bush judicial appointee, possibly even for the Supreme Court. She's a top appellate lawyer, former Rehnquist clerk, and former colleague of Chief Justice Roberts when he worked in the Solicitor General's office. A lot of people see her as the female version of Roberts. The only problem is Grutter v Bollinger, the affirmative action case that Mahoney argued and won in favor of the program. She is also on record as personally supporting the decision. Most conservatives would be opposed to putting a pro-affirmative action Justice onto the Court. But as a replacement for Justice Stevens or Ginsburg, I think that she would be a major improvement and an option for a weakened Republican party. It would still be a huge, huge risk. The next nomination is the big one. It's the one that can form a solid conservative voting bloc that doesn't rely on pulling Justice Kennedy off of the fence. Put Mahoney on the DC Circuit and see what kind of judge she turns out to be.
