Alito: "The Constitution Does Not Protect A Right To An Abortion"

firedoglake: Last Straw? > Washington Times

This was back in 1985. Alito said in this in a job application to Edwin Meese. It's easy to see why Alito would use such "direct, unambiguous language"; Meese originated the term "jurisprudence of original intent":

According to its adherents, original intent jurisprudence alone can prevent judges from imposing their own views on the Constitution. It does so, they argue, by directing judges to determine the Constitution's meaning not by referring to some "evolving" societal consensus, but simply by asking what the Framers would have thought about a particular constitutional question.

As the Findlaw article quoted goes on to state, originalism is a sham. The back-to-the-Constitution crowd practices just as much subjective rationalization to justify their viewpoints as anyone else.

Is all of this the continuing societal impulse that split the Catholic church then, way back in the days of Martin Luther, a wave of which I found myself involved four hundred years later? There's nothing more firmly planted in my memory than the idea BACK TO THE BIBLE, and the cultural importance of this phrase in America (much less the Christian world) had never adequately been explored, as far as I can find. It is this mindset - of having a ironclad infallible standard by which to guide your every decision - that's being expressed whenever you hear "original intent" or "strict constructionists".

God help us if they ever defeat the liberals. The Supreme Court will at once descend into discussion about grammar, dissecting every jot and tittle of the Constitution while extinguishing its spirit.

Thankfully, Judge Alito has given us a statement quite clear as to its meaning. There is no parsing this statement - Alito is committed to advancing the position that the Constitution grants no right to an abortion. He's now in an impossible position. Does he continue to agree with this statement? If he says yes, he's filibustered. If he says no, he can say hello to Harriet Myers. I wonder what facesaving withdrawal tactic the Bush team will use for this guy...