If President Bush thought Sam Alito was a safe choice for the Supreme Court because he would pacify the radical right, he mis-stepped because it's already apparent liberals are gearing up for a fight.

In addition to PFAW, Alliance for Justice, NARAL and the National Women's Law Center, check out:

• Dalia Lathwick at Slate
• David Corn at the Nation
• Liberal Oasis
• Angry Bear
• Think Progress

A court in Iowa has upheld Gov. Tom Vilsack's executive order restoring voting rights to felony offenders who have served their sentences.

"The ruling by Judge Darbyshire confirms that the executive order I signed on July 4th was in compliance with the state constitution and that allowing ex-offenders who have discharged their sentence, probation or parole the right to vote is within the authority of the governor's office," Vilsack said in a statement released Friday evening.

More news on the decision is here. Background and our praise for Gov. Vilsack's order is here.

NBC's Tim Russert, mentioned in the Lewis Libby Indictment as having provided a different version of his July 10, 2003 conversation with Libby than Libby gave to the grand jury, is attracting a lot of media attention of his own.

The New York Times today analyzes his role.

Bloggers are more critical of Russert. Arianna chastises the article for being one-sided. Yesterday, she Arianna chastised Russert and Meet the Press yesterday for saying nothing illuminating about the Libby indictment or the scandal surrounding it - and instead lets guests go on and on about how the Bush White House is planning a turnaround. Check out Arianna's timeline of Russert and NBC comments about Russert's call with Libby.

From Legal Intelligencer:

After a clerkship with 3rd Circuit Judge Leonard I. Garth, Alito worked as a front-line federal prosecutor in New Jersey for four years. But soon after President Ronald Reagan was elected, Alito joined the Office of the Solicitor General, staying for four years and helping to decide what position the administration would take in cases up for review by the Supreme Court.

That was followed by a three-year stint at Main Justice as a deputy assistant attorney general. In 1987, at the age of 37, Alito was appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, a post he held until he was tapped in 1990 by the first President Bush to join the 3rd Circuit.

Before becoming a judge, after a short stint as a law clerk for a federal judge, Alito's entire career --from 1977 to 1990 -- was as a prosecutor or attorney for the Government.

Again, my prediction: A disaster appointment for those who care about the constitutional rights of the accused. I don't want a career prosecutor like Alito on the Supreme Court. I fear he will be a major proponent of the war on drugs, the death penalty and the war against immigrants, while he will rule to restrict habeas rights and Miranda.

by TChris

Scooter Libby’s arraignment, where he is likely to enter a plea of not guilty, has been scheduled for Thursday. Vice President Cheney today replaced Libby with two staff members:

Cheney picked David Addington to serve as his chief of staff and John Hannah to take over Libby's duties as assistant to the vice president for national security affairs.

As TalkLeft noted here, Addington “attended strategy sessions in 2003 on how to discredit Wilson when the former ambassador publicly charged that the Bush administration misled the country in pushing its case for war,” and he “played a leading role in 2004 on behalf of the Bush administration when it refused to give the Senate Intelligence Committee documents from Libby's office on the alleged misuse of intelligence information regarding Iraq.” Addington seems to be Libby’s “mini-me,” and Hannah was also involved in the Plame outing, a fact that TalkLeft discusses here and here. Their new roles assure that it will be business as usual in Cheney’s office.

The Times UK First Post has an excellent analysis of George Bush today. His uninspired appointments are indicative of a President who has run out of energy.

Having won two presidential elections and fought two unending wars, President Bush has run out of energy. Instead of the bouncing enthusiasm of happier days, his subdued manner indicates a loss of interest in the presidency itself, a desire to go home and rest.

He also has no honorable exit.

Think Progress quotes GW law prof Jonathan Turley on the nomination of Sam Alito to the Supreme Court. Crooks and Liars has the video:

JONATHAN TURLEY: He’s the top choice for particularly pro-life people. Sam Alito is viewed as someone who is likely to join the hard right in likely narrowing Roe and possibly voting to overturn Roe.

...There will be no one to the right of Sam Alito on this Court. This is a pretty hardcore fellow on abortion issues.

by TChris

David Corn asks: “Did Cheney know Plame was undercover?” Noting that the Libby indictment doesn’t answer the question, Corn probes Cheney’s role in the scandal:

As the Post piece notes, on July 12, 2003--six days after Wilson published his op-ed--Libby apparently discussed with Cheney what he should say to reporters, particularly Matt Cooper, about the Wilson imbroglio. The indictment does not disclose what Cheney said to Libby at this point. But the next day, Libby confirmed for Cooper that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. Would Libby have done so had Cheney told him to be careful not to identify a DO [Operations Directorate] officer when discussing the Wilson affair with reporters? Perhaps so. But it's not unreasonable to wonder if Libby was--inadvertently or knowingly--spreading classified information about an undercover officer with the tacit or explicit consent of his boss.

Corn joins others in demanding that Cheney give a full accounting of the role he played in the outing of Valerie Plame. More on Cheney's role here and here.

by TChris

U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman in Manhattan will begin hearing evidence today in a challenge to New York City’s random search of bags carried by subway riders.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, which brought the lawsuit on behalf of several subway riders, said in court papers filed last week that its own survey from Aug. 25 to Sept. 16 of 5,500 subway turnstile entrances found a total of 34 searches underway. It said the search program in the 468 subway stations serving 26 train lines "has no meaningful value in preventing the entry of explosive devices into the system by the terrorists the NYPD is attempting to thwart."

The City counters that random searches deter terrorism because a terrorist will never know whether he’ll be searched. The risk of being searched is so low, however, that only the most timid of terrorists would worry about detection. Balanced against their negligible benefit, the random search of bags carried by individuals who have done nothing to raise a suspicion of wrongdoing is an unnecessary offense to the privacy of passengers.

by TChris

To avoid playing the president's game by allowing the Alito nomination to distract from the Bush administration's other blunders, it's worth noting that -- just days after the Pentagon urged the media to ignore the milestone of 2,000 dead American soldiers in Iraq -- the death toll has increased to 2,023.

The six deaths [Monday] bring the number of U.S. soldiers to have died in Iraq this month to 90, the highest number of American deaths there since January when 107 Americans were killed.

by TChris

Hoping to regain the support of his base while provoking a fight that will distract the media from his scandal-ridden administration, President Bush announced the nomination of Judge Sam Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court. This is the reaction of People for the American Way:

“Justice O’Connor had a pivotal role at the center of the Court, often providing a crucial vote to protect privacy, civil rights, and so much more. All that would be at risk if she were replaced with Judge Alito, who has a record of ideological activism against privacy rights, civil rights, workers’ rights, and more.”

Murray Waas and Paul Singer, writing at the National Journal, have more on Cheney Counsel David Addington and his involvement in the Valerie Plame probe. They state that Addington did nothing criminally wrong. But, there are other issues.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller does not sound pleased with Addington, who has been mentioned in recent weeks as a likely replacement for Libby as Cheney's Chief of Staff.