The confirmation hearings for Samuel Alito are coming up next week. I assume there will be much posturing, but it is hard not to wish for honest and substantive exchanges.

With that noble end in mind, I am soliciting questions that you would like to see asked. Here is mine.

“Judge Alito. Many of the most heated judicial disputes today concern, in one way or another, the rights of women. In the 1970s and 80s, an Equal Rights Amendment was submitted to the states but not ratified. How would the rights of women be different today, if that amendment had been ratified?”

That’s my question. What’s yours?

Robert KC Johnson - 1/6/2006

I'd focus on Alito's understanding of legislative intent, and why, in light of his 1985 memo and the Bush administration's vigorous implementation of the "statement" policy, the Senate should not be very alarmed that he would consistently make rulings that diminished legislative power.