Miller Message

Miller Message

This Monday morning, President Bush nominated Judge Samuel Alito to our nation's highest court, the United States Supreme Court. There is no doubt that headlines over the next several weeks will be filled with commentary on the nomination. It is the responsibility of the American public to determine what of this publicity is accurate about the nominee, as many will judge him long before taking the time to learn about him. The same can be said of many of the Senators whose duty it will be to confirm Mr. Alito.

It is disheartening to see an almost instantaneous stream of ill-founded criticism from the likes of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid as well as several of his colleagues who discounted the nominee for no reason other than their political affiliation. Judge Alito is someone who interprets the United States Constitution as it is written, not as how he thinks it should be written. For too long, we've seen judges attempting to legislate from the bench, infringing on Americans' rights to support this country through reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and allowing government to overstep individuals' property rights.

These same people who rush to false judgment on Judge Alito will more than likely find numerous ways to hold up his confirmation process in the U.S. Senate. Judge Alito deserves the respect of having an up-or-down vote on his qualifications, and the nation deserves the respect of having his confirmation hearings held in a timely fashion. Those who seek to employ obstructionist tactics are doing a disservice to our judicial system and cloud the real issue at hand: whether Judge Alito is qualified to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States .

Judge Alito brings with him a tremendous amount of experience from both sides of the bench. As a law clerk, a U.S. Attorney, a Deputy Assistant to the U.S. Solicitor General, and a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals, anyone bringing forth criticism about the breadth of his work will find their efforts short-lived. In fact, he brings more experience on the bench than anyone sitting on the Supreme Court in 70 years.

I am further encouraged that Judge Alito will keep groups such as the ACLU from further eroding Americans' liberties, including their right to free speech. This same ACLU, claiming to work on behalf of people, is well known for its efforts to limit the Boy Scouts and its constant attacks on citizens celebrating the holiday season. If left unchecked, it is only a matter of time before the ACLU negatively impacts each and every one of us personally. Fortunately, it has been shown in the past that Judge Alito understands the true meaning of freedom of expression. His sensible application of the Constitution should reassure Americans across the nation that he will uphold the protection of that freedom.

I strongly feel that Samuel Alito is the person our nation needs sitting on the Supreme Court. His past work experience shows that he is more than capable of handling one of the greatest responsibilities in our nation, and his past actions indicate that he would work to ensure the continued liberties that we deserve as people and expect to be protected as Americans. Through him, we would not see our right to property encroached upon, nor the right to life taken from anyone. Citizens of this nation would not have to worry about losing their freedom of expression, nor would they have to worry about having their rights infringed upon by ill-intended activist groups. I look forward to the confirmation process and Americans learning that having Samuel Alito on our high court would be a great service to this nation.

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