Shocking News: Alito Says No US President Is Above The Law

Why is Druge, and for that matter the press, headlining this story like it’s a shocking revelation?

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito told Congress on Tuesday that no president was above the law when pressed on Bush administration policies on torturing prisoners and domestic spying. Alito, who opposed abortion as a Reagan administration official two decades ago, also testified at his Senate confirmation hearing that the Constitution protects the right to privacy, a key underpinning of the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

In other questioning, Alito surprised Senators by noting that the sky is blue and that Vince Young is a pretty good football player.

Seriously, presidents being subject to the laws of the land has been a settled issue for a couple of centuries now. The founders wrote impeachment into the Constitution to make sure presidents were subject to the law. Tying that established fact to the NSA data-gathering story is yet one more way that our very unserious Senators from the left have demonstrated that they’re both unserious about the war and untrustworthy to deal with serious issues, whether it’s the courts, the law or anything else. They are childish demagogues unfit to conduct a PTA meeting. The press is no more serious, and usually even less serious.

With all of the things going on, from al Qaeda to Iran’s nukes to North Korea to the situation in Israel, this is no time for unseriousness from the press and one of our major political parties. But unseriousness is exactly what we’re getting from both.

UPDATE: A hint of more unseriousness to come:

The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that it will oppose the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the United States Supreme Court. “At a time when our president has claimed unprecedented authority to spy on Americans and jail terrorism suspects indefinitely, America needs a Supreme Court justice who will uphold our precious civil liberties,” said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. “Unfortunately, Judge Alito’s record shows a willingness to support government actions that abridge individual freedoms.”

Alito’s record shows no such thing. But you can’t expect anything within miles of honesty from the ACLU anymore.