November 21, 2005
Counterattacking for Alito
By Robert
Novak
WASHINGTON --
Democratic senators from six red states returned home over the
weekend for the Thanksgiving recess to confront television ads
connecting critics of Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme
Court with left-wing special interests. A simultaneous message
intended ultimately to reach 10 million Americans made this same
point.
The counterattack
on Alito's behalf was triggered by the new TV advertisement of
the liberal coalition opposing Alito's confirmation by the Senate.
The ad claimed Alito, as a federal appellate judge, "even
voted to approve the strip search of a 10-year-old girl."
This distorts a case where a suspected drug dealer's daughter
was searched, visibly not manually, by a female police officer
in the presence of the child's mother. Alito's defenders make
the legitimate argument that the assault against him ends up as
a defense of drug dealers.
Red state Democratic
senators, especially those up for re-election next year, face
a dilemma in deciding how to vote on confirmation. The liberal
pressure groups orchestrating the attack on Alito are central
to the political health of the Democratic Party. But identification
with them could be fatal in closely contested Senate races.
Alito clearly would
mean a shift to the right when compared with the justice he would
replace, Sandra Day O'Connor. Soft-spoken, modest and from an
immigrant family, Alito lacked obvious flaws. Just as in an election
campaign, the opposition research experts dug for dirt about the
nominee.
They thought
they hit pay dirt in Doe v. Groody, a 2004 case. But
Alito's dissent on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals merely
affirmed the right of Pennsylvania police to exceed the scope
of a warrant to search all the occupants of a home to prevent
"the removal, concealment or destruction" of drugs.
While avowing "a visceral dislike" for searching the
young, he called it "a sad fact that drug dealers sometimes
use children to carry out their business and to avoid prosecution."
Alito's opinion would
not seem to justify rejecting a Supreme Court nominee, and his
defenders want to turn the debate to the nature of the opposition.
Sponsoring the strip-search ad were People for the American Way,
the Alliance for Justice, and the Leadership Conference on Civil
Rights. The conservative Committee for Justice's TV ad contends
that "liberal groups led by People for the American Way"
oppose Alito to "take God out of the Pledge Allegiance"
and "redefine traditional marriage."
This pro-Alito ad
has begun playing in Arkansas, Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, North
Dakota, South Dakota and West Virginia. Identifying opposition
to Alito with left-wing special interests is particularly unwelcome
by Democratic senators up for re-election next year: Ben Nelson
(Neb.), Kent Conrad (N.D.) and Robert Byrd (W.Va.). It might also
trouble freshman Sen. Ken Salazar, who was elected in Colorado
last year while promising not to filibuster judges, but who now
says he has serious concerns with Alito.
At the same time
that the TV ad appeared, the conservative Judicial Confirmation
Network last Thursday sent a memo to 1,500 local and state political
leaders belonging to 70 organizations. They are capable of distributing
it via e-mail to 10 million people. The memo continued the assault
on sponsorship of the strip-search ad by "a coalition of
far-left groups led by People for the American Way and Alliance
for Justice."
While revealing
the true nature of Doe v. Groody, the memo says that
"the liberals contend that children cannot be searched under
the Constitution. This would amount to a 'get out of jail free'
card for drug dealers who use young children to stash drugs."
The Law Enforcement Alliance of America last week declared that
"these shameless attacks on law enforcement officers and
Judge Alito would have young children used as drug mules."
Red state Democratic
senators have to consider consequences of collaboration by their
leaders with architects of the assault on Alito. Senate Minority
Leader Harry Reid met privately Thursday with Wade Henderson of
the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, a sponsor of the strip-search
ad, to plot strategy against Alito that may not be popular with
all members of Reid's caucus.
Copyright
2005 Creators Syndicate
