Senator Edward Kennedy (D., Mass.) questioned Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito regarding statements he made in his 1985 application to be deputy assistant attorney general. (His entire application is available for review at "TheSmokingGun-dot-com," but the pertinent part is on page two.) The senator specifically asked him about his opposition to abortion and his belief that the U.S. Constitution "does not protect a right to an abortion." According to the Associated Press, Kennedy reported Alito replied that he wrote those statements as "a member of the Justice Department that was interested in getting a job." Kennedy said he then asked Alito, "Why shouldn't we consider that the answers you're giving today are an application for another job?" In other words, Mr. Nominee, give it to us straight. Don't tailor your words to fit your audience; don't say what you think they want to hear. Reading over Alito's application, I agree with his statements. Like him, I am in favor of judicial restraint. I believe in traditional values and am convinced that the Constitution does not protect a woman's right to have an abortion. Yet I also agree with Kennedy. Alito would command a great deal more respect if he merely said, "I stand by what I wrote in 1985. That document represents my ongoing commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to original intent." According to Proverbs 18:4, "The words of a man's mouth are deep waters, but the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook." In other words, you usually can't tell, based on what a person says, what is really in his or her heart. But if the person is truly wise, they will be as transparent as a bubbling brook. Such transparency comes from integrity--a wholeness of being in which there is no conflict, no double-mindedness, no fence-straddling to coddle public opinion. That's the kind of integrity Jesus Christ had: the oneness of spirit and purpose that he compared to a lamp burning on a lampstand, not under a basket (Luke 11:33). In the next verses, He challenges us to have the same kind of integrity: "See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you." This kind of integrity is what we need in a Supreme Court justice, someone unafraid to hold onto deep convictions, unswayed by public opinion. We need someone who will fully engage in the vigorous debates justices often have behind closed doors, who will be open to the force of legal precedent, to the weight of a logical argument, or to the persuasive power of evidence, regardless of who has the money, the influence, or the prestige. Yet it seems the confirmation process itself has a built-in bias in favor of someone who is colorless and bland, who has no deep convictions, who lacks "bubbling brook" integrity. We owe it to Judge Alito to consider the testimony of his friends and colleagues--those who know him best. We need to hear what they have to say on his behalf, not just a senator pursuing his own agenda. Want to "go deeper"? Check out "judgealito.com" for more. |
