After a few hours’ reflection, I now think that Judge Alito’s opening statement was incredibly shrewd as a piece of politics. By going with the “gee, shucks, I’m just a child of immigrants who believes in people getting a fair shake” trope, he has found an ideal stance from which to parry with the Senators. He is going to spend the week as a defender of the rule of law and the essential modesty of the courts, and will say over and over again that he sits before the Senate as one who just couldn’t have any more respect for the lawmaking powers of Congress and the role of the courts in interpreting the will of the people as expressed through their elected representatives. This is important because for some weird reason, Democrats like Chuck Schumer and Russ Feingold are demanding that Alito affirm that the president doesn’t have the right to be a dictator. When he agrees with them, what are they going to say next? The whole thing is a farce, of course, only without any jokes.