Alito

Argus Leader:

State senator proposes resolution backing Alito
S.D. vote would do nothing, Democrat says

South Dakota state senators may lack the power to confirm U.S. Supreme Court justices, but a Watertown lawmaker wants his colleagues to go on record supporting Samuel Alito.

Republican Sen. Lee Schoenbeck is prime sponsor of a state Senate resolution of support for Alito, whose confirmation hearings are scheduled to begin in January in the U.S. Senate.

Schoenbeck’s proposed resolution, prefiled for consideration in the 2006 Legislature, says Alito is “exceptionally well-qualified and has proven on the bench that he possesses the temperament, integrity, impartiality and sound legal judgment necessary for a Supreme Court justice.’’
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Schoenbeck’s resolution is co-sponsored by 24 other Republican state senators. It says Alito “has a history of ruling based upon the established rule of law and the specific facts of the cases before him,” and it encourages Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson and Republican Sen. John Thune to support Alito.

“The protracted political battles over qualified candidates and attacks on candidates based on misleading allegations need to be controlled, as they demean the federal judiciary and deter otherwise qualified candidates from participating,’’ the resolution says.

South Dakota’s Legislature opens Jan. 10. Some reports from Washington, D.C., say the U.S. Senate hopes to have a vote on Alito’s nomination by Jan. 20.