ALITO WOULD HELP BUSH WEAKEN CONGRESS, CREATE AN 'ALL-POWERFUL EXECUTIVE':
Alito's past speeches to the conservative Federalist Society have shown a
nominee with an expansive view of presidential powers. In a 1989 debate,
Alito criticized the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the creation of
independent counsels as an act that "hit the doctrine of separation of
powers about as hard as heavyweight champ Mike Tyson usually hits his
opponents" and paved the way for more "congressional pilfering."
In a 2000 speech, Alito endorsed the theory of the "unitary executive,"
where "all federal executive power is vested by the Constitution in the
president." In 2004, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas used the unitary
executive theory to justify the president's unilateral power to lock up U.S.
citizens in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld.
But other legal scholars rejected Alito's expansive views: "Some people
would argue that the whole point of the Revolution was not to have a king,"
said Michael Froomkin, a law professor at the University of Miami.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-alito8jan08,1,932560.story?page=2&cset=true&ctrack=1&coll=la-headlines-politics
YASER ESAM HAMDI and ESAM FOUAD HAMDI, as
next friend of YASER ESAM HAMDI, PETITION-
ERS v. DONALD H. RUMSFELD, SECRETARY
OF DEFENSE, et al.
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH
CIRCUIT
http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-6696.ZD1.html
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