Now here is a conspiracy that the Left can get behind.  Take the same notion that Meirs was sent to withraw right from the get-go, but this time the reason is for Bush to have a ready made diversionary plan set up in case the Fitzgerald investigation goes south.   Of course, this still requires a high intellect, but since it is of nefarious sort, maybe it will be granted to the man.

I haven't heard this expressed.  I heard a short, very ambiguous, bit on Fox News that seemed as though this might be the implication.

Looks like Judge Alito is going to become Justice Alito late this month or early in the next.  While, after listening to parts of the hearings and reading parts of his record I don't find him to be a perfect candidate, he seems certainly to have the judicial temperament required of a Supreme Court Justice and to be open-minded enough that he can impartially judge the arguments that come before him.  Looks better than I-have-no-judicial-experience-and-my-main-qualification-is-that-I'm-friends-with-the-President Miers, in any case.

I think one of the most radical (and at the same time not) thing that judge Alito said is that every law of Congress/the legislative branch is assumed to be constitutional, thus placing the burden on the objecting party to show it isn't.  If he actually adheres to that belief (the Supreme Court has said that for awhile while at the same time disregarding it in certain cases, the most famous probably being abortion) it will not only make the courts much more submissive to the legislative branch, but it will also toss out many judicially imposed rules, esp. pertaining to the states.  For example, in abortion cases states are told they need to present a "compelling interest" in over to restrict abortion (clearly placing the burden on the state).  Actually, the "compelling interest" rule is the most often used to, contrary to the practice of law, shift the burden to the state when it comes to the constitutionality of laws.