Biden and the Supreme Court

The supposedly moderate Joe Biden sure didn't act like a moderate when it came to his votes regarding Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.

On John Roberts, September 22, 2005:

Three Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have voted YES to confirm John Roberts--Patrick Leahy, Herb Kohl, and shockingly, Russ Feingold.

Ted Kennedy, Dianne Feinstein, Chuck Schumer, and Dick Durbin have voted against one of the most qualified individuals, one of the best legal minds that has ever come before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Joe Biden, after doing a Kabuki dance, also voted NO.

During the hearings of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Biden said:

[T]he public is best served by questions that initiate a dialog with the nominee, not about how she will decide any specific case that may come before her, but about the spirit and the method she will bring to the task of judging. There is a real difference … between questions that focus on specific results or outcomes, the answers to which would risk compromising a nominee’s independence and impartiality, and questions on judicial methods and philosophy. The former can undermine the dispassionate and unprejudiced judgment we expect the nominee to exercise as a Justice. But the latter are essential and contribute critically to our public dialog.

Regarding Roberts, however, Biden said that because Roberts was not forth-coming on specifics, he's "unwilling to take the constitutional risk" to vote YES.

He bloviated about the rights of the American people being taken away. Biden claimed that Roberts refused to answer questions about where he stood on specific issues, something that would have directly violated Biden's own standard for Ginsburg.

Biden said he voted NO reluctantly.

Obviously, Biden has made the political calculation that it would be in his best interests to assuage those of the mind that Roberts is remarkably qualified. He did so by stating his reluctance to vote NO, by over and over again saying the vote was a "tough call."

Biden appealed to moderates and independents by noting that he recognized the stellar credentials of Roberts. He said he knew Roberts was very capable.

To satisfy the far Left extremists, Biden realized he had to vote NO. He calculated that his potential to be a factor in the 2008 presidential race would be lost if he didn't vote according to the wishes of the radical fringe and the vocal and well-moneyed Hollywood Left.

Apparently, Biden realizes that the Democrat Party is controlled by the radical Left. In the end, he chose to cozy up to them rather than alienate these extremists.

One thing is certain. Biden's "NO vote Kabuki dance" had nothing to do with principle and everything to do with political posturing.

Rather than voting on the merits of John Roberts, Biden did his part to further politicize the process of confirming judicial nominees.

Although Roberts will be confirmed, hearing Democrats try to rationalize their NO votes makes it a sad day.

Witnessing the cheapening of the Supreme Court nomination process is very disheartening.

Biden voted with his personal political interests in mind. Case closed.

On Samuel Alito, January 25, 2006:

In a party-line vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended that the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito be sent to the full Senate for approval.

Tuesday’s session gave the Dem committee members one last chance to bloviate before going down in defeat. They seized the opportunity to make political speeches, often seeming to forget the business at hand, Judge Alito’s nomination.

The tenor of their statements on Tuesday was similar to what we heard from them last week during their questioning of Alito – snippy attacks and unfounded smears and whiny distortions.

In short, they not only showed that they lacked the decency to support an unquestionably qualified nominee; they revealed that they did not have the strength of character to risk alienating the lunatic fringe of the Democratic Party and do the right thing.

It has become increasingly clear that the lunatic fringe is now the heart and soul of the Dem Party. If Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska is the only Dem willing to vote to confirm Alito, it will cement the reality that the radical Left is in control and completely out of touch with the mainstream of the country.

JOE BIDEN: I plan to vote no on the nomination of Judge Alito to the Supreme Court, and I do so for three reasons: first, his expansive view of executive power; secondly, his narrow view of the role of the Congress; and third, his grudging reading of anti-discrimination law reflecting, in my view, a lack of understanding of congressional intent and the nature of discrimination in the 21st century.

…Last week, I was thinking, as I was preparing to speak before a Martin Luther King event, like many of us, probably all of us here did in our home states, about Dr. King.

And I reread -- I reread -- his letter from the Birmingham jail, in which he laid out the following standard: He said, and I quote, "When you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact you are Negro, living constantly at tip-toe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and you are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments, when you are forever fighting the degenerating sense of nobody-ness, then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait."

We shouldn't wait. We should own up to the fact that prejudice is still around and has moved. It's not quite the prejudice of the '60s when you would say, well, we don't want any blacks here, or more descriptive terms.

Now it's more subtle. They say, we are not sure you'd fit in. New words, for old sins.

All public officials including judges in my view must understand prejudice still lurks in the shadows. And my examination of Justice Alito's record demonstrates to me that he does not look into the shadows.

In that last paragraph, Biden refers to Judge Alito as “Justice Alito.” I wonder if that’s a mistake in the transcript or Biden’s slip. Either way, Biden should get used to calling him Justice Alito.

I found Biden’s blathering extremely mean-spirited. Once again, he portrayed Judge Alito as a racist and a misogynist.

What a disgraceful performance by Biden!

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In sum, Biden doesn't provide balance to the Dems' ticket.

He's not a moderate. He tips the scale to the Left as surely as Obama does.