Most of us don’t have time to watch much of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on President Bush’s nomination of Samuel A. Alito, Jr. to the U.S. Supreme Court, so here are a few items to help you catch up on the festitivities.
A Washington Post video of the tasty and testy exchange between Senators Kennedy and Spector over Kennedy’s request to subpoena some documents.
Peggy Noonan’s analysis of the hearing to date, including this recitation (fictional, I hope) of the typical quality of Senator Joe Biden’s questioning (?) of Judge Alito:

What if a fella–I’m just hypothesizing here, Judge Alito–what if a fella said, “Well I don’t want to hire you because I don’t like the kind of eyeglasses you wear,” or something like that. Follow my thinking here. Or what if he says “I won’t hire you because I don’t like it that you wear black silk stockings and a garter belt. And your name is Fred.” Strike that–just joking, trying to lighten this thing up, we can all be too serious. Every 10 years when you see me at one of these hearings I am different from every other member of Judiciary in that I have more hair than the last time. You know why? It’s all the activity in my brain! It breaks through my skull and nourishes my follicles with exciting nutrients! Try to follow me.

Noonan wonders: “How does Judge Alito put up with this?”
Meanwhile, a measured criticism of Judge Alito’s nomination is contained in this Jonathon Turley/USA Today op-ed in which Turley observes as follows:

Despite my agreement with Alito on many issues, I believe that he would be a dangerous addition to the court in already dangerous times for our constitutional system. Alito’s cases reveal an almost reflexive vote in favor of government, a preference based not on some overriding principle but an overriding party.
In my years as an academic and a litigator, I have rarely seen the equal of Alito’s bias in favor of the government. To put it bluntly, when it comes to reviewing government abuse, Samuel Alito is an empty robe.
Alito’s writings and opinions show a jurist who is willing to yield tremendous authority to the government and offer little in terms of judicial review — views repeatedly rejected not only by his appellate colleagues but also by the U.S. Supreme Court.
An independent judiciary means little if our judges are not independently minded. In criminal, immigration and other cases, Alito is one of the government’s most predictable votes on the federal bench. Though his supporters have attempted to portray this as merely a principle of judicial deference, it is a raw form of judicial bias.

Read the entire piece.
Finally, don’t miss the Comedy Central video “Sam’s Club,” particularly the final 1.5 minutes where the current hearing is compared to another senate committee hearing that is familiar to all movie buffs.