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'Overly Deferential to Executive Power:' Partisanship and Evasiveness in Justice Samuel Alito's Confirmation Hearing

2008; RELX Group (Netherlands); Linguagem: Inglês

10.2139/ssrn.1080083

1556-5068

Artemus Ward,

Law, Rights, and Freedoms

In all President George W. Bush made three nominations to the Supreme Court: John Roberts, Harriet Miers, and Samuel Alito. I suggest that a key factor in the selection of each of these nominees was their stance on the issue of executive authority and the war on terrorism. While evidence suggests that on a number of issues Miers was a very different nominee, or at least a potentially very different nominee, from Roberts and Alito, I submit that on the issue of executive authority all three were seen by the Bush administration as reliable votes for the New Paradigm or Unitary Executive theory of government. In the following paper I conduct a content analysis of Alito's senate confirmation hearing. Did the Senate make the issue a priority? Was the issue treated in a partisan fashion? Was the nominee forthcoming or evasive in his responses on the topic?