Judge Alito

Like most of you, I've been trying to soak up as much as I can about the hearings. I don't have the resources at work to watch or even listen live, but I've caught the last part of the day live after work and have depended on pundits and the web to fill in the gaps. A couple of observations:

PowerLine, as usual, has the most engaging commentary on the hearings. I think Scott is a little over the top in declaring that "Alito may in fact be the best-qualified man in the country for the job", but to be fair Scott has the experience to say such things whereas I don't.

But I'm not posting this to pick on Scott - rather, I wanted to point out another of his posts in which he descibes a couple of former clerks, both Democrats, who enthusiastically support Judge Alito:

"They have come out to support Judge Alito as a man of sterling character and an exemplary judge. They say they are confident that he will not advance a political agenda. They say the imputation of racism to Judge Alito and the implication that he supports discrimination is personally offensive to them. They consider it an embarrassement to senators they would otherwise support. Jim describes the venture as a terrible attempt to discredit a man of unassailable integrity in front of milions of people."

In many respects, this kind of thing is meaningful and helpful to non-lawyers like me. The kind of person you are is reflected in the lives you touch, when those who would normally be rivals step up to offer defence, it should certainly help the public gain some confidence that Alito is the right choice.

Scott also mentions Mrs. Alito's exit from the hearings today - I just saw Schumer on Fox News (5:56 PM EST), when asked by John Gibson about Mrs. Alito leaving in tears, he said, "I don't know anything about that". Is he even on the same planet with the rest of us?

In the coverage I've seen so far, Judge Alito appears to me to be under plenty of stress. He's not as polished and unflappable as Judge Roberts was. That's not a bad thing, though. I don't think I'd last very long under the continuous badgering from the Dems - most likely I'd have taken my ball and bat and gone home in the first few hours. And I think most of the viewing public view it the same way - the Dems' malicious attacks are in the end garnering a lot of sympathy for Alito, and I'll predict that the polls will reflect it.

It really does seem that the Democrats are helping public support for Judge Alito more with their actions than they could if they supported him themselves.