Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Alito's first decision on the supreme court

[Stephen Montgomery-Smith <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

Mike Miller wrote:
> On Fri, 3 Feb 2006, Stephen Montgomery-Smith wrote:
>
> > Jonathan King wrote:
> >
> > > On 2/2/06, Stephen Montgomery-Smith <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
> > >
> > > > The decision of Alito that is described here seems totally in line 
> > > > with answers I remember Alito providing to Leahy when he was 
> > > > questioned at the nomination hearings.  I really do get the sense 
> > > > that I am going to end up admiring Alito very much.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Interestingly, nobody I have heard of argues against the fact that 
> > > Alito is a smart guy or a thoughtful guy.  My (rather large) 
> > > objection to him is his very consistent positions favoring business 
> > > interests and an expansive interpretation of executive priviledge.  
> > > He also has made some pretty weird rulings in the past that were 
> > > overturned by the Supremes; in fairness, this probably happens to a 
> > > lot of Appeals Court justices.  But the 
> > > strip-search-of-a-ten-year-old-without-warrant case was...man, that 
> > > was just chilling.
> >
> >
> > This last case I only heard about from a friend who had seen Alito 
> > questioned about it by Kennedy during the nomination process.  I don't 
> > recall the details, but basically Alito said that he found the strip 
> > search of this girl very troubling - however, he was not asked to rule 
> > on that aspect of the case, but on some other point of the law.
>
>
>
> Here's some info on it:
>
> http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/11/25/alitos_remark_on_strip_search_of_girl_10_prompts_questions?mode=PF 
>
>
> Apparently, he was asked to rule on that aspect.  Alito's view is that a 
> search warrant for a premises includes authorization to search any 
> persons found on those premises.  This view was not shared by all 
> judges.  I have to say that I see Alito's point, but I guess the other 
> judges feel that additional warrants should be obtained before strip 
> searches are undertaken.
>
> We have to worry a little about Alito's other views on criminal procedure:
>
> http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/communications/newsreleases/2005/111605.html
> http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/osjcl/eJournal_3-1.htm
>
> We don't want to give too much authority to the police.  There is a 
> balance and I'm concerned that Alito could push to far in one direction.

The popular media shows ("Law and Order", etc) give a perception that 
the police are often hampered in bringing a criminal to trial because 
they slipped up on some technicality.  I have always wondered if this 
perception is true.  Presumably there is some truth to it.


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