Friday, January 13, 2006
Law Professors Draft Questions For Judge Alito
Washington, D.C.--Law professors from around the country have submitted to editorial boards their "dream questions" for Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito, Jr. Some samples are:
"Name three Supreme Court precedents which have not been overturned, but you wish had been. OR you may answer this question: Assume you must delete two amendments from the Constitution. Which ones would you choose, and why? It's advised you spend no more than thirty minutes on this section."
"Was the approach of 'economic due process' applied early in the last century consistent with your view of judicial restraint? And how is this question relevant to your confirmation?"
"What is the fact pattern you are most likely to face as a Supreme Court justice that might implicate some of the conclusions in my published but as yet uncited articles on Confederate jurisprudence?"
"My neighbor is suddenly complaining that the branches from my willow tree, which has been growing on the border of our two properties for the past twenty-two years, extend too far into his yard, and he wants me to prune them--would you agree, sir, that my neighbor, Harry Sims, is an ass?"
"Lastly, because we cannot ask you the question that everyone most wants answered, that is, your position as to whether a woman has a constitutional right to have an abortion, let me attempt to tease it out of you obliquely: do you, sir, support the recent ban on importing roe from Caspian Sea sturgeon? And assume your answer will be misinterpreted."
"Name three Supreme Court precedents which have not been overturned, but you wish had been. OR you may answer this question: Assume you must delete two amendments from the Constitution. Which ones would you choose, and why? It's advised you spend no more than thirty minutes on this section."
"Was the approach of 'economic due process' applied early in the last century consistent with your view of judicial restraint? And how is this question relevant to your confirmation?"
"What is the fact pattern you are most likely to face as a Supreme Court justice that might implicate some of the conclusions in my published but as yet uncited articles on Confederate jurisprudence?"
"My neighbor is suddenly complaining that the branches from my willow tree, which has been growing on the border of our two properties for the past twenty-two years, extend too far into his yard, and he wants me to prune them--would you agree, sir, that my neighbor, Harry Sims, is an ass?"
"Lastly, because we cannot ask you the question that everyone most wants answered, that is, your position as to whether a woman has a constitutional right to have an abortion, let me attempt to tease it out of you obliquely: do you, sir, support the recent ban on importing roe from Caspian Sea sturgeon? And assume your answer will be misinterpreted."
