A Different Standard

Dahlia Lithwick in Slate:

There are, it seems, better and worse ways to game your Supreme Court confirmation hearings. John Roberts charmed his way through the proceedings. Sam Alito has chosen to simply bore his way through, and as a consequence, two days into the hearings, the Democrats on the judiciary committee have hardly laid a glove on him. I count only three occasions today on which he refuses to answer a question; that's not going to be his way. His way is to drill down and answer in lengthy doctrinal detail; to justify his past decisions with technical legal analysis; to expound upon three-part tests and legal factors to be balanced. He never tells you the answer to the question, but he's always expansive on how he might get there.

I haven't really looked, but I bet she didn't say the same thing about presidential candidate John Kerry when he would use a couple of hundred words to answer a yes/no question.

Judge Alito uses "technical legal analysis", shocking from a lawyer, judge and nominee for the Supreme Court I know.

The Dems thought at first they had Roberts and swung and missed badly. They didn't even get a chance to go against Harriet Miers. With Alito, they thought they had him until the hearings started and they end up losing again. They come off as looking bullyish and bloviating. Nice.