SCOTUS Hearings Context: Alito and Roberts
For Mediavores who can’t turn away from Supreme Court confirmation hearings, here’s a couple of items from the Wayback Machine–also known as the NPR archives. The hearings for Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and John Roberts were separated by a mere six months (January 2006 for Alito, September 2005 for Roberts). So far, race has been the dominant hot-button issue during the Sotomayor hearings. Abortion, civil rights, and privacy were front and center when Alito and Roberts each faced the Senators. And, per usual, the hearings provided a forum for the Democrats and Republicans to make many a political speech. We wonder if Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) will warn his colleagues against “politicizing the judiciary” during the Sotomayor hearings as he did during the Roberts hearings.
Listen to NPR’s audio highlights of the opening day confirmation hearings for Alito here, and for Roberts here.
