Amen, Brother Herbert
The Hidden Columnists--Bob Herbert Edition (16 Jan 06)

Mr. Herbert lays it on the line in regards to Samuel Alito (here's the link to the full column for Times Select subscribers):

Mr. Alito is on his way toward confirmation. He will probably vote to reverse Roe v. Wade. He will not be a champion of voting rights for minorities, or a bulwark against racial and gender discrimination. If his record is any indication, and we have very little else to go on, he will almost always side with the powerful interests, whether in government or the great corporations, against the little guy.

I can understand why the Republican Party - the party of Bush, Cheney, Frist, Abramoff and DeLay - would want such a man. But why the general public would want him is beyond me.

Sam Alito is the kind of guy who, rather than lend a helping hand, would slam the trap door on less-privileged individuals seeking opportunities similar to those he enjoyed. Nor is he trustworthy. I don't believe his story that he couldn't remember belonging to the bigoted group Concerned Alumni of Princeton, given the fact that he was happy enough in 1985 to tout his membership in the group on his application for a promotion in the Reagan Justice Department.

After Mr. Alito is confirmed, President Bush and Dick Cheney will pat their new justice on the back and help him into his judicial robes, wishing him well. He'll then get high-fives and warm embraces from his ideological soul mates, Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia. The Supreme Court will have tilted even more dangerously to the right and, in my view, the rights and protections of ordinary citizens - the little guys - will be in even graver peril.

The great post-World War II advances in civil rights and civil liberties, and the protection of ordinary citizens against the depredations of the rich and powerful, would never have happened without the courageous efforts of the enlightened justices who served on the Supreme Court in that era. They would surely never have happened with the likes of Alito, Thomas and Scalia making the important calls.