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President Bush’s nominee, Samuel Alito, is unsuited for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court and the Senate should refuse to confirm him. It is imperative that Senators hear from constituents that Judge Alito should not be confirmed. The confirmation hearings did nothing to quell concerns that Judge Alito would have a dramatic, damaging impact on the lives of everyday Americans were he to be confirmed.

Alito’s record indicates that he views the First Amendment as placing few limitations on the ability of the far religious right to use the government to advance its narrow religious views, even at the expense of the religious freedom of minorities.

But Focus on the Family says this:

Senate liberals are continuing their purely partisan efforts to derail the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court -- despite his stellar qualifications for service.

The next few days are particularly critical in ensuring Alito is seated on the high court. In fact, family advocates have identified today as a key day for residents of several states to urge their Democratic senators to vote in favor of Alito.

If you live in any of the following states, it is imperative that you take the time in the next few hours to call your senator or senators listed below and deliver a simple message: "You represent people like me, not radical liberals like Ted Kennedy and Charles Schumer, and we believe Judge Alito is well-qualified to serve on the Supreme Court. We expect you to help ensure he gets a fair up-or-down vote -- and to cast your vote in support of him."

The uncomplicated truth, of course, is that both sides are noisy bamboozlers playing to, attempting to mobilize, overwrought ignoramuses.

Notice, for instance, that Americans United links the vote to religious freedom, which is an almost trivial part of the Court's business and which, overall, the Court has a good record of protecting regardless of composition, and Focus on the Family links the vote to the wickedness of Ted Kennedy. Both characterizations of the question "Confirm, or not?" aim at inflaming, and both are misrepresentations; the only difference is that Focus is slightly nastier by alluding to Kennedy, whose serial misconducts are irrelevent.

The only licit question before the Senators is this: Does Alito acknowledge any client but the Constitution itself? If he does, he should be rejected, and if not, he should be confirmed.

There's no predicting the future, but my sense of Alito's record, and that part of the hearings I watched, is that he holds the Constitution pre-eminent, and believes that correcting unhappy outcomes is what We, the People, hire legislators to do. If I had a vote, I'd cast it to confirm.

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