2091 The Lessons of Alito and Roberts--smart, experienced and cool under pressure

In the Feb. 6 Weekly Standard, Terry Eastland reviews the lessons of Alito (and Roberts), going back over the Harriet Miers* nomination, the rebellion of the conservatives, and the hoopla and hype of the liberals.

"In the end, a big lesson from the search for O'Connor's successor--a lesson of both the Roberts and Alito nominations--is that quality matters. Democrats were unable to convince anyone but themselves that the nation must maintain the Court's "balance" by having someone like O'Connor succeed O'Connor (assuming, that is, such a person could ever be found, her method of judging being entirely unpredictable). In Roberts and then in Alito, the country saw smart, experienced lawyers who could handle anything thrown at them--without losing their cool. . . Another lesson is that quality nominees can make a winning case for judicial conservatism.. . . There is another lesson from the two nominations, which is that Democrats have succeeded in making Supreme Court nominations a matter of partisan politics."

*I still believe this was a ploy on Bush's part to get who he wanted, but I'm no pundit getting paid for what I write.