The Western Geologist

I've been partially listening to the confirmation hearings for Samuel Alito the last couple of days. I haven't been paying full attention to the radio broadcasts since I've been listening to them while I've been preparing and loading samples into a triaxial deformation apparatus (maybe I'll blog on that later). I'm pretty new to that, so all of my attention has been focused on making sure I'm not making a mistake (I've made a few, but nothing that couldn't be fixed – I haven't blown anything up). I did hear the opening comments by the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Most of what I heard disappointed me. From what I heard (and admittedly I didn't hear all of the comments) the senators didn't care about evaluating Alito. Kennedy opposed him because he hoped that would hurt Bush, and Cornyn wanted to support him because they hoped he would favor their views (using all of the nonsensical catch phrases like "judicial activism" and "liberal agenda").

A couple of the blogs I regularly read have posted entries about the confirmation hearings. Here are a few:

Notes on the Alito Hearings from the Volokh Conspiracy.

Cornyn's Remarks on Alito from Dispatches from the Culture Wars.

Kennedy's Remarks on Alito from Dispatches from the Culture Wars.