Gun Owners of America are happy with Alito..

GOA wants to thank all of you who contacted the President recently and suggested that he appoint a strong constitutionalist like Samuel Alito, Jr., to the Supreme Court. As you know, Judge Alito (from the Third Circuit) has a strong record in support of the Constitution. Gun Owners Foundation was involved in the Rybar machine gun case which we ultimately lost in the courts. But Judge Alito offered a strong dissenting opinion to the majority report and argued that Congress has no right to regulate the private possession of machine guns.
The nomination of Alito is going to drive the other side crazy. Good. Judge Alito is a tremendous choice, and GOA will be asking you in the future to lobby your two U.S. Senators in favor of this pick.

Why wait? The first hurdle is the Senate Judiciary Committee. Although the Republican leadership have kept Specter, the chairman of said committee, on a short leash since his initial intemperate remarks, it can't hurt to tell the Senators on that committee your views. Particularly if you are a constituent, and particularly if the Senator in question might not be inclined to give his full support to Alito. That means Republicans likely to squish, and Democrats tempted to filibuster, need to be notified that people are watching their votes on this issue, along with their treatment of the nominee.

The process starts in the Judiciary Committee, which has scheduled hearings beginning January 9th on Alito's confirmation. Each Senator on that committee will have the opportunity to question Alito on issues of concern to them and to the nation. The questions should be hard, because the job of Supreme Court Justice is not a trivial one. But they should be polite, free of personal attacks, and focused on matters that are properly the concern of the judiciary.

So let them know you are watching:

Arlen Specter
CHAIRMAN, PENNSYLVANIA

Orrin G. Hatch
UTAH

Patrick J. Leahy
RANKING DEMOCRATIC MEMBER, VERMONT

Charles E. Grassley
IOWA

Edward M. Kennedy
MASSACHUSETTS

Jon Kyl
ARIZONA

Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
DELAWARE

Mike DeWine
OHIO

Herbert Kohl
WISCONSIN

Jeff Sessions
ALABAMA

Dianne Feinstein
CALIFORNIA

Lindsey Graham
SOUTH CAROLINA