ScAlito, Don't Be a Thomas

Shorter Schumer: Thomas lied to us about his views on stare decisis, don't go there.

After ScAlito said that he believed that stare decisis holds in almost all cases, Schumer pointed this out:

SEN. SCHUMER: Okay. Well, let's see who said that one. It was Robert Bork when he came before this committee to be nominated.

Now, here's what Justice -- Judge Bork wrote in the National Review Online just a few weeks ago. He wrote, quote:

Overturning Roe v. Wade should be the sine qua non of a respectable jurisprudence. Many justices have made the point that what controls is the Constitution itself, not what the court has said about it in the past.

And even before his hearing, by the way -- he sort of cut back on what he said at the hearing, I guess -- it may have been in different context, but here is a quote that he'd said a few -- a year, I think, before he came before us. He said

I don't think that in the field of constitutional law, precedent is all that important.

He said, in effect, that a justice's view of the Constitution trumps stare decisis.

. . . And one of the things I'm concerned about here is that what you wrote about Judge Bork in 1988. And by the way, this was not when you were working for someone or applying for a job. As I understand it, you were the U.S. Attorney in New Jersey, well ensconced, very good U.S. Attorney, and it was with some New Jersey news outlet. I saw the site, but I didn't know what it was.

And you said about Justice Bork:

I think he was one of the most outstanding nominees of this century. He's a man of unequaled ability [and] understanding of constitutional history.

. . .

JUDGE ALITO: Well, I certainly was not aware of what he had said about stare decisis when I made those comments. I have explained those comments. They were made when I was a -- an appointee of President Reagan, and Judge Bork was --

SEN. SCHUMER: But you weren't -- excuse me. You weren't working in the White House. You were a U.S. attorney prosecuting cases. There was no obligation for you to say what you said, right?

JUDGE ALITO: No, but I had been in the Department of Justice at the time about --

SEN. SCHUMER: You know, but it was a voluntary interview with some New Jersey news outlet. Is that correct?

JUDGE ALITO: And I was asked the question about Judge Bork, and I had been in the department at the time of the nominee -- at the time of his nomination, and I was an appointee of President Reagan, and I was a supporter of the nomination.

This judge is simply not up to the challenge of telling the truth.