Delaying the Inevitable

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

The Democrats are treating this like surgery:

WASHINGTON - The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court on Jan. 24, officials announced Monday night, and the full Senate will begin debate the following day.

The hearings concluded last Friday, and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the committee chairman, said he intended to schedule a committee vote for this week on the nomination.

Democrats said at the time that they intended to object, and they did, a move that Frist called "unjustified and desperate partisan obstructionism."

Under the rules, any senator can force a delay in a vote for one week.

Democrats said they wanted to give senators time to observe a three-day holiday weekend without coming back to face an immediate vote.

The reason for this delay is bogus. Yes, the extended weekend was nice but it's time to get back to work. Justice O'Connor filed her resignation last summer and deserves to retire. She should be allowed to retire. Delaying Alito's vote by one week only prolongs the process that - thanks to the extraordinary grandstanding by our senators - has become a mockery.

Either way, come February Judge Alito will be forever known as Justice Alito.