SAMUEL ALITO: BEST INTEREST OF MOTHERS AND CHILDREN OR NOT


Alito Sworn In as Justice After Senate Gives Approval

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: February 1, 2006

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 —

Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. was quietly sworn in Tuesday as the 110th justice of the Supreme Court, taking the oath of office less than two hours after a sharply divided Senate voted roughly along party lines to confirm him.

His confirmation, by a vote of 58 to 42, is expected to tilt the balance of the court to the right on matters like abortion, affirmative action and the death penalty, and partisans on each side said the outcome would echo through American politics for decades.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/01/politics/politicsspecial1/01confirm.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Last week after Samuel Alito’s confirmation as a Supreme Court Justice, a young mother of three children mentioned to me that she was disturbed that one of the supposedly ‘women’ seats on the court had been given away to a man now. She wondered if mothers would have been better off supporting Harriet Miers, a conservative woman we didn’t know just because she was a woman, as opposed to a conservative man.

I thought about that for a bit and then told her no, I don’t think we would have gained anything by a Harriet Miers being in that seat as opposed to a Samuel Alito. Actually it has been my experience that on the issues that mothers are most concerned about, which is our children, we would have gained far less allowing a child-free gender-neutralized female attorney, such as Harriet Miers, to occupy that seat.

Sadly I have observed that feminists of the gender-neutralized variety tend to come from both sides of the spectrum. It’s a mistake to assume that these women only emerge from the left wing of the democratic party. Even if they call themselves something else, they function in the same capacity as a gender-neutralized feminist, which is to attempt to undermine mothers’ traditional bond with our children. This frequently translates into some of the more vicious court rulings against mothers coming from other women once they become Judges.

Additionally they give legitimacy to the propaganda arm of the hate movements aligned against mothers, such as the fathers rights movement, for instance or the radical feminists’ gender-neutralized wing. So, it actually can work to our detriment to allow a woman to get into a position where she can be used as a Troyan Horse by those who wish to get laws or public policies passed ‘under the radar’ that negatively impact women in their role as mothers.

We saw this last year with Judge Arlene Goldberg’s vicious attack against single mothers with the Bridget Marks custody ruling. If that ruling had been allowed to stand, it would have ultimately threatened every unwed mother in New York City, every single one of them. As it basically allowed a never-married boyfriend to change his mind anytime, even YEARS after the birth of your child, and decide to acknowledge paternity in order to instigate a custody fight.

So we have to be careful of this.

I, in the past, have been fooled many times automatically thinking mothers had a friend in high places after the election of some woman Judge or other female court official, only to be rocked to my core by a particularly vicious custody ruling or anti-mother statement shortly after they are sworned in or the election is over.

Thus we must remember, there is no guarantee that mothers would have had a friend on the court with Harriet Miers or any other woman in a highly placed position. It is a mistake that mothers make to continue supporting candidates just because they are women, when our best interest and the interest of our children could be better served by a male candidate. I have noticed many female candidates getting into positions of power and then suddenly going gender neutral as soon as they are seated. Thus, mothers owe no allegiance to anyone just because she is a woman; as gender-neutralized feminists have shown that they do not act in the best interest of women in their role as mothers.

Thus, it remains to be seen if Samuel Alito or even John Roberts, for that matter, rule favorably on issues mothers care about or not...