Alito hearings
Since I was ill yesterday I spent a fair amount of time watching the Alito hearings. I have to say, that Daniel Drezner’s Senate Judiciary Committee contest is very difficult. It is hard to pick out the dumbest thing a Senator has said in such a target rich environment.
I do have a few observations though. I think it terribly unfair that Sen. Jeff Sessions followed Sen. Diane Feinstein in the questioning orders. It is a tough thing to do, but Sessions made Feinstein look intelligent.
It is quite obvious that Senators love to hear themselves talk. While they grudgingly gave Alito chances to respond now and then, for the most part they certainly seemed much happier delivering boring monologues than actually answering questions. Of course it is also obvious for most that either they already knew the answers they would get or they were unable to understand the answers that were given.
I propose a new rule for future confirmation hearings: Any Senator that spends more than 2/3 of their time talking in the first 30 minute questioning session loses the chance to have a second 30 minute session.
On a more substantive note, there were some distinct differences noticable between Alito and Roberts. Roberts struck me as brilliant and charismatic while Alito seems much more a dilligent workhorse. That isn’t to say that he isn’t smart, but he seemed much less convinced of his own intelligence. I would say based upon that, Roberts is more likely to be willing to overturn precedent that Alito will be. Alito certainly was more willing to answer questions than Roberts, although I am not sure he said more than Roberts did as far as offering hints or predictions of how he will rule.
