How Alito Looks Under the Lens

The judge delivers his conservative opinions in a soft voice. Will that be enough to avert a showdown over his nomination?

Like any half-decent Hollywood thriller, every serious political brawl in Washington needs at least one good villain. It's not nearly as much fun or as easy to score points and hurl invective back and forth without a compelling one-dimensional character at the center of it all. Robert Bork played that role magnificently in his 1987 epic Supreme Court battle, as did Clarence Thomas in his more understated performance four years later. More recently, during the bloody conservative revolt over the Supreme Court nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers, the real villain turned out to be her chief backer, a President who...

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