Three significant issues stand out after the Alito hearings:

1) He clearly does not think the Constitution protects a woman’s choice (the right to choose, as some might call it), and he indicated that Roe v. Wade is not settled law.

2) He clearly believes in an even more powerful executive branch. In fact he supports the notion of a “unitary executive” in order to give the President broad powers that are not subject to control by Congress. And he even refused to rule out the right of the President, with the absence of imminent threat, invading another country without first getting congressional authorization.

3) He clearly does not believe Congress has the authority under the Constitution to make laws meant to protect families from harm. Even though the Supreme Court ultimately said he was wrong, Alito stood fast by his opinion in the Rybar case that Congress couldn’t ban machine guns. Incidentally, this has provoked the Brady Center to announce their opposition to Alito, the first candidate that they have ever opposed. I believe they referred to his opinions as “right-wing judicial activism”. Pretty harsh stuff coming from a center named after President Reagan’s Press Secretary. Morerover, Alito stood by his opinion that seriously narrowed the Family and Medical Leave Act. I’m sure we all remember when he said there was no evidence for the notion that women are disadvantaged in the workplace when they are not allowed to take family leave. The Supreme Court trounced all over that one as well. Even Rehnquist said in the majority opinion that Alito’s position relative to women in the workplace defies common sense.

So it looks like if you hate women, like automatic weapons, and think executives should be able to operate without oversight…Alito’s your man.