Biden: Chance of filibuster on Alito stronger

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."

Likewise, the Senate shouldn't have put off the Alito hearings until January. It'll give the Democrats precious time in which to portray him as a monster bent on taking the nation back to Jim Crow, segregation, and pre-sufferage.

Just getting back to my Free Republic reading after being on vacation (deer hunting) this past Thanksgiving week.

Actually it wasn't the Senate that delayed the hearings on Alito till Jan 9. It was (one) of our favorite RINO RAT B@$t@#ds Arlen Specter who cut a deal with the Dims to delay the hearings till Jan 9. What a RAT B@$t@#d betrayer he is! Of course GW Bush has no one to blame but himself for stiffing & opposing Pat Toomey in the PA Senate primary in order to fully support the RINO RAT B@$t@#d Arlen Specter. And this is how Specter repays the president by delaying the hearings for over 2 months after GW Bush announced Alito's nomination. Specter gave a dumb-ass response that his committee was stretched so thin and so busy that they couldn't do Alito's judiciary committee hearings till Jan 9. In reality I read an article that said the Judiciary committee & staffers are basically sitting around with very little to do.

I also think that one of the main reasons for the delay is in order to allow Sandra Day O'Conner to still be on the SC in order to hear and vote on a parental consent law regarding abortion. Obviously Specter is hoping that O'Conner (true to her squishy form) will vote to strike down the parental consent law.

Arlen Specter: a disgrace of a human being and a true RINO. I am very concerned about Rick Santorum's race. Schmuck Schumer would like nothing better than to defeat Rick. The problem with Casey Jr. is that he is not the prolifer that his father was: Casey Jr. voted for John Kerry which his father would not have done.

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