Posted on 11/20/2005 10:16:45 AM PST by GeneD
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chance of a filibuster to halt the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel Alito rose on news he once opposed 1960s Supreme Court rulings on reapportionment based on the principle of equal voting rights, a top Democrat on the Senate judiciary panel said on Sunday.
Sen. Joseph Biden, a Democrat from Delaware, told Fox News Sunday that a decision by Democrats to filibuster would depend largely on Alito's answers during judiciary committee questioning scheduled for January.
Prior to the Warren court's decisions, some state legislators were elected on a geographical basis, giving thinly populated rural areas more political heft than urban centers.
"If he really believes that reapportionment is a questionable decision -- that is, the idea of Baker vs. Carr, one man, one vote -- then clearly, clearly, you'll find a lot of people, including me, willing to do whatever they can to keep him off the court. We don't know that. We have to hear it," Biden said. "That would include a filibuster if need be."
Asked if this increased the chances of a filibuster, Biden said: "Well, I think based upon that job application where he said he strongly held these views, yes."
The Dumbest Man In The US Senate, per the great one, proves again earns his nickname. What a moron!
Interesting to note that when he was first elected, he was Constitutionally unfit to hold office. He did remedy the situation, however, a couple of weeks later.
Skip the article and click on the posted cow link. (If I only had a nickel for every time I've said those words...)
Yep, Biden is a loser, in the mold of a Kennedy or Schumer.
Hey! Tell 'em to look at the last link in Reply #8 at the end of that ancient thread for vast amounts of top quality "Find Law" information!!! (in addition to the "cow link")
I should be writing a speech right now, so I'll be looking at this later myself.
Agreed. A long read, but well worth it. My problem is that somehow I managed to miss the cow quote. DANG!
We have 58 counties in CA and only 40 senators. We need 18 more so that each county would have a senator like before. Our rural county residents/voters are taxed just as heavily on our land as are metro county residents/voters... Thus we have taxation with inadequate representation.
The metro counties run all over the property rights of rural counties by installing things like The CA Coastal Commission and The Sierra-Nevada CONservancy which are gigantic regional governments of a highly questionable constitutional nature!!!
We can do nothing about this because we don't have the votes in at least one of the two houses of the legislature!!!
From Findlaw.com:This blogger (Rick Hasen, Loyola Law School Professor--and Dem) also highlighted the issue early on and has some interesting comments with links to various articles.
U.S. Supreme Court, REYNOLDS v. SIMS, 377 U.S. 533 (1964)From the State Department Website under the category "Basic Readings In U.S. Democracy":
REYNOLDS V. SIMS (1964)
Election Law Blog
For a country boy like me (especially one who is a traditionalist), this subject is also near and dear to my heart.
I like your analogy of one Senator for 8 or 9 Western states...
Of course, people from the blue states would ask "what's wrong with that?
I completely sympathize. I think the federal bicameral system is brilliant. How ironic that the Warren court held that it is unconstitutional as applied at the state level. I don't know how the other Justices feel about it, but I sure would take one more vote to get rid of the rule, if that is how Alito sees this.
Now I know they're seriously gonna try ta "Bork" him
From your lips to God's ears, I pray this happens. We've got the numbers cold on this one. The bonus is that if we do get the Constitutional option, it will dissolve the gang. Down with gang violence, I say. (Speaking of that, I haven't heard anything on the Tookie-watch lately. Any news out there?)
Hey! I just had two of my best friends move back to your state. I wonder if they selected your neck of the woods? They both moved next to that big lake/reservoir on the southern state line.
Agrarian, I want you to think of this discrimination against us rural-sexuals as "rural cleansing!" Now that we've given the cause a name, all we gotta do is get Alito in there in spite of Binden and then bring a case up for re-visiting. We never impeached Earl Warren, but maybe we can un-do some of his evil unconstitutional shifting!!!
I just love how they've politically scrubbed the expression of "one man, one vote," to "one person, one vote!" Too funny!!!
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