The National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force on Wednesday urged gay men and
lesbians to contact their U.S. senators to oppose Samuel
Alito as a replacement for Sandra Day
O'Connor on the Supreme Court. "The confirmation of
Alito would put in mortal danger the constitutional
and other legal rights and interests of LGBT people across
the country," Matt Foreman, the group's executive director,
said in a statement. "If Alito serves on the Supreme
Court, he will no longer be subject to any sort of
review. He would team up with justices Scalia and
Thomas to have their extremist views become the law of the land."
Alito again appeared before the Senate Judiciary
Committee on Wednesday as his confirmation hearing
continued. NGLFT listed specific reasons why they
oppose the nominee:
--Privacy: Alito's record presents a
mortal danger to the right of privacy protected by the
Constitution that is described in Lawrence v. Texas
as an "autonomy of self" and has been
held to include the right of adults to consensual intimate
activity and the right of women to reproductive choice.
--Equal protection: Alito's record
threatens the right of LGBT people under the Equal
Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to be free of
government discrimination based on the biases and moral
views of others, as the Supreme Court ruled in
Romer v. Evans.
--Power of Congress to protect:
Alito's record limits the power of Congress to
enact legislation to protect Americans from unfair and
unreasonable discrimination--the protection LGBT
Americans, like other Americans who have suffered
discrimination, hope for in employment and someday in
all other important activities and opportunities of American life.
--Effectiveness of civil rights laws:
Alito's record undermines the rights of individuals
currently protected by federal civil rights laws from
realizing those protections, through his narrow
interpretation of the laws and the imposition of
requirements not stated in the laws.
--Protection from misuse of
"national security": Alito's record so favors
the interests of the executive branch (the president) that,
with its currently asserted barely fettered authority
to implement national security policies, it is likely
that Alito would support continued LGBT discrimination
in the military and anywhere else such discrimination
might be asserted as in the "national
security" interest.
To contact your senator, call the U.S. Capitol
switchboard at (202) 224-3121. (Advocate.com)
