Patterico's Pontifications

1/23/2006

New York Times Editors: Ignorant (at the Very Least)

Filed under: Judiciary,Media Bias — Patterico @ 6:49 am



Ed Whelan takes a whack at the New York Times for its ignorant editorial on Alito (my emphasis):

I’ll limit myself to the NYT’s core claim – that Judge Alito “has a radically broad view of the president’s power.” One problem with this claim is that the editorial offers not a shred of credible evidence to support it. The editorial charges that Alito “has supported the fringe ‘unitary executive’ theory, which would give the president greater power to detain Americans and would throw off the checks and balances built into the Constitution.” But the “unitary executive” theory merely takes seriously what Article II of the Constitution states: that the “executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” As Judge Alito testified repeatedly, it does not reach the separate question of the scope of that executive power. Indeed, the editorial’s charge that the theory “would give the president greater power to detain Americans” is contradicted by the fact (seemingly never acknowledged by those trying to use the “unitary executive” as a stick to beat Alito with) that Justice Scalia, a proponent of the unitary executive, took a much more restrictive view of executive power than Justice O’Connor did in the Hamdi case.

P.S. Note to the editors of the New York Times: If you are trying to persuade Sen. Lincoln Chafee to vote your way on this nominee, your argument would be more convincing if you at least try to spell the Senator’s name right. Hint: it’s “Chafee” — with only one “f.”

UPDATE: At least they didn’t refer to the case of “Row v. Wade” like the AP did. (No, I’m not kidding; follow the link.)

11 Responses to “New York Times Editors: Ignorant (at the Very Least)”

  1. THE TIMES: ELECTIONS DON’T MATTER

    Displaying a contempt for democracy not often seen on the pages of a major American newspaper, the New York Times today is asking the Senate to reject the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court not because he is a…

    Right Wing Nut House (3e6668)

  2. Judge Alito’s Radical Views

    If Ruth Bader Ginsburg could replace Byron White (Roe’s leading dissenter), why can’t Alito replace O’Conner.

    Don Singleton (59ce3a)

  3. Kudos for that most excellent P.S. And so the Times’ descent into charicature is complete.

    AcademicElephant (72f1d6)

  4. All Things Beautiful TrackBack Alito The Radical

    Alexandra (51bfeb)

  5. Kerry to vote against Alito before voting for him and then against him. Because of Vietnam (UPDATED)

    From the Boston Globe:Sen. John Kerry said Sunday he will vote against Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. because he fears Alito would take the country "backwards." Kerry, the failed Democratic nominee for president in 2004, also…

    protein wisdom (c0db44)

  6. I believe I disagree with your defense of Alito. He’s a big suck-up.

    But you might like these quotes:

    “Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.”
    — Hunter S. Thompson

    “I’m all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let’s start with typewriters.”
    — Frank Lloyd Wright

    Psyberian (1cf529)

  7. The AP misspelling is simply a tribute to the New Orleans joke:

    What does President Bush think about Row vs. Wade?

    He doesn’t care how people get out of New Orleans!

    Dana (3e4784)

  8. Mr Singleton trackbacked:

    If Ruth Bader Ginsburg could replace Byron White (Roe’s leading dissenter), why can’t Alito replace O’Conner?

    Oh, you silly man! That can’t happen ’cause it would move the Court in the wrong direction! Surely you don’t think that the left actually cares about balance, do you?

    Dana (3e4784)

  9. Protein Wisdom trackbacked:

    From the Boston Globe: Sen. John Kerry said Sunday he will vote against Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. because he fears Alito would take the country “backwards.”

    Actually, I give Mr Kerry points (OK, maybe just one point) for being honest. By describing Judge Alito as taking the country “backward,” Mr Kerry is telling you that he sees the Court as a mechanism for moving our politics, law and culture in a particular direction (to the left, natch!), and he sees Mr Alito as reversing that course. That’s a heck of a lot more honest than the “out of the mainstream” crap you hear from the left.

    Dana (3e4784)

  10. Oh, you silly man! That can’t happen ’cause it would move the Court in the wrong direction! Surely you don’t think that the left actually cares about balance, do you?

    Sure they do. You should have heard the massive protests they launched here in California when Gov. Schwarzenegger replaced our most conservative Justice, Janice Rogers Brown with that centrist Corrigan.

    Xrlq (428dfd)

  11. In checking out The Lost Kos and MyDD, where the foaming-at-the-mouth crowd was demanding, demanding I say, that the Democrats filibuster the confirmation of Samuel Alito, all of a sudden they’ve grown much less vocal.

    Makes me wonder if they finally got the fax from Pat Leahy.

    Dana (3e4784)


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