# I told you Alito was an asshole ... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 23, 2006, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848 "2006-06-23T12:36:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/21 "2006-06-23T20:54:23Z")
> [@flight](#): > > You are right. I heard 8-1 on that case this morning. They did not specifically mention Alito though. I heard 8-1 on NPR this morning, and they _did_ mention Alito. This space-time continuum thing really needs to get sorted out. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/22 "2006-06-23T20:57:22Z")
Well, this thread has clarified something for me! I had wondered why some of the things going on in the world didn’t make sense. It’s now clear – I am operating in the wrong space-time continuum. Although pitting Alito for coming to the right decision based on a slightly different technical reading of the law than the others, strikes me as strange in **any** STC. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/23 "2006-06-23T20:58:40Z")
> [@flight](#): > > You are right. I heard 8-1 on that case this morning. They did not specifically mention Alito though. The majority decision was 8-1. Alito concurred – meaning he didn’t agree with the majority’s reasoning, although he did with the result they arrived at. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/24 "2006-06-23T21:31:05Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > The majority decision was 8-1. Alito concurred – meaning he didn’t agree with the majority’s reasoning, although he did with the result they arrived at. If he concurred, and nobody dissented, the decision was 9-0. Concurrences are treated as votes for the majority. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/25 "2006-06-23T23:22:08Z")
/me points and laughs ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/26 "2006-06-23T23:38:03Z")
Is Superboy-Prime punching reality again? ---
**Author:** ![Dumbguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dumbguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dumbguy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/27 "2006-06-23T23:41:18Z")
Best thread ever. ---
**Author:** ![Dumbguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dumbguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dumbguy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/28 "2006-06-23T23:44:34Z")
Worst thread ever. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/29 "2006-06-23T23:45:28Z")
So it wasn’t just me. Well, wasn’t in Ben Franklin who said, “Post in haste, repent at leisure”? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/30 "2006-06-23T23:52:10Z")
So it wasn’t just me. Well, wasn’t in Ben Franklin who said, “Post in haste, repent at leisure”? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/31 "2006-06-23T23:53:07Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > If he concurred, and nobody dissented, the decision was 9-0. Concurrences are treated as votes for the majority. No, the result was 9-0, but the **majority decision** was 8-1. There’s a point beyond nitpickery to that. Every case eventually gets ruled on, with a result. But if there’s not a five-man majority for a given line of legal reasoning, it sets no precedent (or at least not a binding one). The decision that Ellerth is entitled to collect was unanimous. How they got there was not (though it was a good solid 8-man majority). The reason for the 24th Amendment was that in the leading SCOTUS case on poll taxes before the amendment, **there was no majority**. Four people felt they were constitutional (if scurrilous), four they were unconstitutional, and Justice Powell held that they were unconstitutional in Federal elections but constitutional in state ones. Hence the adoption of the amendment. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/32 "2006-06-23T23:55:09Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > So it wasn’t just me. Well, wasn’t in Ben Franklin who said, “Post in haste, repent at leisure”? Actually (depending on whether you’re in the cool space-time continuum), what Ben said was closer to _“Saturday Evening Post in haste makes waste not, want not. Lather, rinse and repent at leisure.”_ - kd99, cool STC denizen ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2006, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/33 "2006-06-24T00:03:07Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > So it wasn’t just me. Well, wasn’t in Ben Franklin who said, “Post in haste, repent at leisure”? No, that would be Bay Buchanan of Team America. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/34 "2006-06-24T21:12:35Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > So it wasn’t just me. Well, wasn’t in Ben Franklin who said, “Post in haste, repent at leisure”? I believe the correct quote is, “Double post in haste, repent at leisure.” ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/35 "2006-06-25T00:50:33Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > Or you can leave it as is, as a reminder that even a poster as exalted as myself can make a mistake. Whew. We can exhale now. We’ve all been holding our breath awaiting this moment. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/36 "2006-06-25T00:56:13Z")
I heard 8-1 with Alito being the 1 on NPR, too. Can’t remember what day it was–either Tuesday or Friday (I was listening on my way to work). They said nothing about 9-0 in the report. They also interviewed the woman (White)–but that’s all I remember. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/37 "2006-06-25T01:46:41Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > The reason for the 24th Amendment was that in the leading SCOTUS case on poll taxes before the amendment, **there was no majority**. Four people felt they were constitutional (if scurrilous), four they were unconstitutional, and Justice Powell held that they were unconstitutional in Federal elections but constitutional in state ones. Hence the adoption of the amendment. **Poly** , I think we’ve got another time-space continuum thingie happening here. Amendment XXIV was adopted in [1964](http://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/). President Nixon nominated Justice Powell in [1971](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Franklin_Powell,_Jr.). 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/38 "2006-06-25T03:22:32Z")
> [@Northern Piper](#): > > **Poly** , I think we’ve got another time-space continuum thingie happening here. Amendment XXIV was adopted in [1964](http://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/). President Nixon nominated Justice Powell in [1971](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Franklin_Powell,_Jr.). 😕 You have several for resolving this quandary: 1. The “multiple worlds hypothesis” in which accurate facts from two different STCs come together to create a paradox 2. Justice Powell was secretly a Time Lord and used his TARDIS to cast the deciding vote seven or more years before his appointment. 3. I confused the Poll Tax decision with the 18-Year-Old Voter Decision, in which Justice Powell did cast the deciding vote in the mode I described. 4. The hamsters secretly edited my post to make me look incompetent. I rather like choice #3 myself. :o ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/39 "2006-06-25T04:05:17Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > I rather like choice #3 myself. :o Personally, I go by the rule that when in doubt, it’s _always_ the fault of the hamsters! ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848/40 "2006-06-25T16:36:19Z")
_blinks_ In _my_ STC, the hamsters were choice #4… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-told-you-alito-was-an-asshole/361848.md?page=3)