Posted on 10/31/2005 4:02:29 PM PST by RWR8189
THE ONE THING people seem to know for sure about Samuel Alito is his nickname: "Scalito." The name is meant to denote Alito's similarities to associate Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, whom the Senate confirmed, on Ronald Reagan's urging, to the Court in 1986. It's a catchy moniker, and rolls off the tongue, and may, if the media takes its cues from the press release manufacturers at the Democratic National Committee, become the catchphrase of Alito's upcoming Senate confirmation hearings.
Which would be a shame. The nickname is misleading. The two men may share a vowel at the end of their last name. But, needless to say, they're different people.
I, too, in case you haven't noticed, have a vowel at the end of my name, and so I find myself obliged, as a strange point of ethnic pride, to point out Scalia and Alito's differences. From what I can tell, the two men have three things in common. Both are Italian. Both are conservative. And both are known for penning dissents.
This is where the similarity ends. There's the difference in age: Scalia, 69, is from a different generation than Alito, who was born in 1950. There's the difference in education: Scalia is a graduate of Georgetown and Harvard; Alito, Princeton and Yale. There's the difference in résumé: Though he served in both the Nixon and Ford administrations, when he was nominated by Reagan, Scalia was primarily known as a legal scholar who had taught at the University of Virginia, the University of Chicago, Georgetown, and Stanford. Alito's background in government is deeper than Scalia's, his ascent to the Court faster. A U.S. attorney in the late 1970s, he was a fixture in the Reagan administration, serving in both in the Solicitor General's office and the Office of Legal Council before his appointment to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in 1990.
There's the possible difference in legal philosophy. Scalia is best known for his originalist, textualist approach to the law, as outlined in his manifesto A Matter of Interpretation. Alito, a strict constructionist, seems more open to various approaches to the law. And there's the difference in judicial demeanor: On the bench Scalia can be taciturn, biting, his penetrating mind burrowing immediately into the illogic of an attorney's position. Alito, we are told, is more deferential; his knife is less pointed.
Where did the nickname "Scalito" come from? It is hard to say. I searched the Lexis-Nexis database and found the first reference to "Scalito" in the December 7, 1992 National Law Journal. "Judge Alito is described by lawyers as exceptionally bright," reported Joseph A. Slobodzian, "but much more of an ideologue than most of his colleagues. It's a trait that as led some to nickname him 'Scalito' after the acerbic Supreme Court Justice." References to Alito as "Scalito" have always been in the passive tense: "some say," "has been," "is referred to." No one, until now, seems to have gone on record with the name.
They probably shouldn't. "Scalito" is a slogan; a joke of a name that masks more than it reveals. It folds one man's record--Alito's--into the liberal caricature of another--Scalia. And it reduces Alito to his ethnicity and his conservatism.
Almost forgot: There's one other thing Scalia and Alito have in common. Both were appointed by Republican presidents to courts famous for issuing liberal rulings. As a consequence both judges became famous for dissenting in a reasoned and well-written manner.
Of course, if President Bush has his way and Alito becomes the second Italian American in 20 years to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, the two judges may not be penning dissents for long.
Matthew Continetti is a staff writer at The Weekly Standard.
Sounds good to me.
I'm not sure that is all that terrible...
Alito + Roberts + Scalia + Thomas +OneMoreTrueConservative = Good Stuff.
May the last sentence its way to God's Ears.
Having most recently insulted millions of Catholics and driving more into the GOP, The Moonbats at MoveOn.Org and Chuckie Schumer decide to work on Italian Americans.
"Having most recently insulted millions of Catholics and driving more into the GOP, The Moonbats at MoveOn.Org and Chuckie Schumer decide to work on Italian Americans."
This morning, I heard basically the same comment from a fellow, who calls himself a Greek Ortho Catholic and a Moderate in politics. He said the rats could drive away millions of voters on the Eastern Seaboard and on the left coast if they bash this good man for being a Catholic.
I kidding 'sort of'.
He wrote the dissenting opinion in Rybar and that by the precedent set in "Lopez" the majority erred and also by Lopez, Congress really overstepped its bounds when it outlawed "Machine Guns" (which I did not know) under their Commerce Clause powers. (Scroll down to the end for his opinion)
I read the whole thing and I think Scalito, aka Machine Gun Sam, likes saying "Machine Gun". He uses it a gazillion times.
They said a vowel, not the same vowel. At least I guess that was what was meant.
That's really stretching, lol.
One more Italian on the USSC and they'll be calling in the FBI which we all know stands for "forever bothering Italians."
Ciao
One more Italian on the USSC and they'll be calling in the FBI which we all know stands for "forever bothering Italians."
Ciao
Mafia= Mayor Addonizio's Friends in Action.
Don't they always? Heck I thought they are the PR department of the DNC.
I've heard this so-called nickname bandied about all day long, and it sounds to me like it is simply a way to begin to smear this man about his Conservatism. NBC News tonight was quick to point out the similarities between Alito and Scalia, specificaly that they are both Itralian (gasp!) and Catholic (PAPISTS!!).
There is nothing respectful about that nickname.
Are they two different groups?
I disagree.
W ran for election stating that he would select jurists like Scalia and Thomas. The Dims are pointing out that he is keeping the promise that he got elected on. Seems like typical Dim strategy to me.
If I were running for some type of office, I would LOVE for my opponent to tar me as "a little Gipper."
If you're up for the SC, being painted as a "Scalito" sounds like a compliment to me...
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