more on Letter from Alito ....

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re Letter from Alito ....
Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2006 13:21:13 -0500
From: Munro, Neil <NMunro () nationaljournal com>
To: dave () farber net


        It is curious to see that someone actually believes "is it
unprecedented for a Supreme Court justice to send a thank you note to an
interest group."
        Justices routinely speak gratis at events organized by interest
groups - the ABA, the Federalist Society and the left-of-center American
Constitution Society, business groups, law schools, university groups
etc. These appearances are far more valuable than a letter, in part
because such appearances help the groups acquire status and clout. For
example, Ruth Bader Ginsburg worked for the ACLU before being appointed
to the Supreme Court, where she regularly weighs claims made by ACLU
lawyers. ACLU chief Romero lauded Ginsburg when she addressed an ACLU
membership meeting in 2003. "Justice Ginsburg was one of us," Romero
said. "During the 1970s, she served as general counsel for the ACLU and
was a founding director of the women-rights project of the ACLU."
        For a schedule of the judges' speeches, visit this site.
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/publicinfo/speeches/speeches.html
        Of course, it is entirely reasonable for citizens to laud, damn
or curb judges' ability to give valuable appearances, letter, speeches,
etc, to interest groups. After all, the judges said it was OK for us to
use the campaign-finance laws to curb speech by politicians and by
interest-groups.

        Neil





-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
Sent: Friday, March 03, 2006 10:04 AM
To: ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: [IP] The Constitution doesn't actually SAY "Separation of
Church and State" ...



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: The Constitution doesn't actually SAY "Separation of Church and
State" ...
Date: Thu, 02 Mar 2006 22:48:11 -0500
From: Randall <rvh40 () insightbb com>
To: JMG <johnmacsgroup () yahoogroups com>, Dave <dave () farber net>

http://htdaw.blogsource.com/post.mhtml?post_id=267153

To Dobson, With Love, Sam Scalito ...
Thursday, March 02, 2006 at 10:45 PM EST
Alito Sends James Dobson a Valentine
HuffingtonPost.com

During his broadcast today, Focus on the Family founder and president
James Dobson promoted his organization's annual ex-gay conference, Love
Won Out, in which gays and their families are told that homosexuality is
"preventable and treatable." Then, he presented evidence that "the
pendulum is swinging back," informing his listeners that he had just
received a thank you note from new Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.

Dobson praised his listeners for helping to seat John Roberts and Alito
in time for a partial-birth abortion case ("in this case, [your
activism] absolutely affected history," he told his audience).

Not only is it unprecedented for a Supreme Court justice to send a thank
you note to an interest group, it is highly unethical. Alito has
admitted that he owes his job to a man who told his listeners today to
"please be in prayer that by the time that probition on abortion reaches
the Supreme Court, there will be one more conservative justice sitting
there." From now on, plaintiffs and defendants in cases dealing with
issues from abortion to gay rights to school prayer should demand that
Alito recuse himself. Alito is deeply embedded in the pocket of the
Christian right and perhaps
more compromised than anyone could have imagined.

Here is the text of Alito's letter to Dobson, which Dobson read on air:

Dear Dr. Dobson:

This is just a short note to express my heartfelt thanks to you and the
entire staff of Focus on the Family for your help and support during the
past few challenging months.

I would also greatly appreciate it if you would convey my appreciation
to the good people from all parts of the country who wrote to tell me
that they were praying for me and for my family during this period.

As I said when I spoke at my formal investiture at the White House last
week, the prayers of so many people from around the country were a
palpable and powerful force.

As long as I serve on the Supreme Court I will keep in mind the trust
that has been placed in me.

I hope that we'll have the opportunity to meet personally at some point
in the future.

In the meantime my entire family and I hope that you and the Focus on
the Family staff know how we appreciate all that you have done.


Sincerely yours,

Samuel Alito
-- 
"The people who still support George Bush are the same people who
believe Adam and Eve rode to church on the backs of dinosaurs". -  SNL



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