Wendy Long is right: Durbin did distort Alito’s comments. Alito said his wording on the “supremacy” of the elected branch was “inapt,” not the concept he meant to advocate. He said he hadn’t changed his mind. (Others have pretended that Alito said he believed in “executive supremacy,” a flat misquote; Leahy this morning replaced the theory of a “unitary executive” with a supposed theory of a “unitary government.” Funny how these innocent slips of the tongue all make Alito sound scarier.)

Overall, I’d say that Durbin failed. Alito did himself some good on explaining why he doesn’t think he can give any more answers on Roe, and Durbin just let any momentum Schumer had built up dissipate.