Alito vs. your liberties

President George W. Bush is in the midst of replacing retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Conner with his latest Supreme Court nominee, Samuel Alito. There's a good possibility that Bush will fill another court vacancy before his presidency is up, and including Chief Justice John Roberts, that would amount to three judges appointed during his administration.

The court is undergoing a serious transition, so think hard when you consider the impact of that title: Supreme Court Justice. Bush has obviously thought about it, and to him, it translates as a vehicle for furthering his own conservative agenda.

Based on his current pick, Alito, and his failed nominee, Dubya Fan Club President Harriet Miers, the president appears to view a court vacancy as a prime opportunity to push his personal politics, and worse, his personal agenda.

Last week, the Supreme Court heard Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, the most significant case regarding abortion rights in five years.

Almost simultaneously, additional records showing Alito's opposition to Roe v. Wade, the decision that legalized abortion, were released. A letter revealed two weeks prior also disclosed Alito's feeling that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion."

The Ayotte case concerns the requirement that doctors notify a parent of a teenage girl seeking an abortion before performing the operation. This in itself is nothing new and is the law in most states.

However, this case specifically deals with a New Hampshire parental-notification law that, unlike the vast majority of similar regulations, does not include a health exception and requires a 48-hour waiting period after a parent is alerted before a girl can have an abortion.

The statute unnecessarily complicates the process of obtaining an abortion in an attempt to stealthily chip away at a woman's right to choose.

Not surprisingly, the Bush administration submitted a Supreme Court brief in defense of the law.

The high court justices, though, seem fairly united in their view that the New Hampshire law is indeed too restrictive, but this clearly wouldn't be the case if Alito were serving.

The documents released Wednesday depict that, while working as a Justice Department lawyer during the Reagan administration, Alito was instrumental in efforts to convince the high court to overturn Roe v. Wade.

In one memo, Alito advised the administration submit a brief to the Supreme Court in support of a Pennsylvania law that enforced severe abortion restrictions. Alito thought this would help "make clear that we disagree with Roe v. Wade."

As a third circuit court judge, Alito issued a dissenting opinion in the 1991 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in which he deemed it necessary for a woman to consult her husband before having an abortion.

Alito says a woman's right to manage her own body is unconstitutional, but he seems to think her husband is qualified to do the job.

If confirmed, Alito would serve as nothing more than a messenger of the Bush administration. The consequences could be tragic and they'll last as long as he does, so potentially another 30 years.

To me, the term "Supreme Court Justice" is defined by an exhaustive amount of power, and to award that power to anyone other than an impartial judge is extraordinarily dangerous.