"As a result of the overwhelming outpouring of public opinion against appointment of another biased nominee to our Supreme Court, John Kerry today announced that he would lead the fight to stop Alito from bringing his unitary executive dogma to our Supreme Court. Virtually all Democratic senators are united in their commitment to vote "No" on Alito.

Update [2006-1-27 13:23:52 by susanhu]: Hillary Clinton will support filibuster, reports Raw Story.

What we must now do is encourage them to join the filibuster to save our future from his reactionary agenda. Now is the moment of truth where we are called each of us to speak out and tell our senators to find the courage of conscience to take a stand for the people. Tell them to not ONLY vote "No" on Alito, but to also SUPPORT the filibuster, which may be the only way to actually stop him from turning our rights upside down.

With recent revelations about the way the Bush administration deliberately disregarded the FISA law in engaging in secret domestic wiretaps of ordinary citizens, it is striking that Alito's supporters are now threatening to do an end run around longstanding and honored Senate rules to abolish the right of filibuster for this one occasion. They are planning on overruling the Senate parliamentarian and in the most egregious abuse of power yet. They call it their "nuclear option," because it would totally obliterate the right of the minority to have any say whatsoever over policy decisions in our democracy. Please tell your senators how outraged you are that such a move is even being contemplated for partisan purposes. The one click form on this page will send your personal message to both your Senators, with the subject "No nuclear option for Alito filibuster." At the same time it will send your personal comments only as a letter to the editor of your nearest local daily newspaper, if that option is selected below."-from actspeak.com.

Democrats.com is keeping an on-going tally of the effort to find the "Alito 48" who will either support the filibuster or stay away on Monday. They've got all the contact information there, too. CSPAN says coverage will start at 9 AM PST. News Dissector says "Democratic activists and Kerry supporters had been pressuring the 2004 Democratic Presidential contender to honor a commitment he made back in June 2003 2 when he pledged:

"I am prepared to filibuster, if necessary, any Supreme Court nominee who would turn back the clock on a woman's right to choose or the constitutional right to privacy, on civil rights and individual liberties and on the laws protecting workers and the environment. The test is basic -- any person who thinks it's his or her job to push an extreme political agenda rather than to interpret the law should not be a Supreme Court justice."

Cross-posted at www.seattlefordean.com and www.howieinseattle.com.