Norquist comments, "Alito is one of seven or eight Bo Derek 10s that were out there, for the purposes of judicial philosophy."

Why is Norquist ever asked by anyone in the news media for his comments on anything? A man who compares a Supreme court nominee to a vapid, plastic movie star is anything but well. Will Alito's "fair" decisions be wrapped in a bikini top?

Robert

The debate over Roe v. Wade for the most part recently has been missing the point. Roe is not the answer any more. All Roe v. Wade did was prohibit states from criminalizing abortion. But the subsequent cases (Planned Parenthood v. Casey, mainly) have permitted such extensive regulation by states that in some states it doesn't really help at all that abortion is legal - with so many restrictions, there is no access anyway. These are the states that would respond to an overturning of Roe with actual prohibitions of abortion. Maybe this view is cynical, but the reality is that Roe is practically irrelevant, so making Roe the singular focus seems like a waste of energy that could be used on formulating other approaches. What are the pro-choice activists to do? Rally the citizens of states like Virginia to lobby their legislatures? Who knows. Alito's views are appalling - he favored a spousal notification requirement for women in need of abortions. But, even without overturning Roe, the Court could hypothetically declare that spousal notification is not an undue burden (the current standard under Planned Parenthood v. Casey) and declare such a regulation constitutional. Alito should not be confirmed, but the reasons for this are much broader than simply a need to uphold Roe.