Alito's Credibility Problem?

Teddy Kennedy, of all people, questions Samuel Alito's credibility in a Washington Post editorial. Senator Kennedy, whose account of what happened at the Chappaquiddick bridge several decades ago should have forever disqualified him from pronouncing upon others' credibility, closes his column with this:

Alito's words and record must credibly demonstrate that he understands and supports the role of the Supreme Court in upholding the progress we've made in guaranteeing that all Americans have an equal chance to take their rightful place in the nation's future. "Credibility" has rarely been an issue for Supreme Court nominees, but it is clearly a major issue for Alito.

In the column Kennedy gives five reasons for doubting Alito's credibility, at least three of which distill to the fact that Alito is a conservative and only one of which seems to bear any non-partisan significance.

Kennedy avers that, although Alito promised in 1990 to recuse himself in any case involving the Vanguard mutual fund (in which he was heavily invested), a few years ago (2002) he nevertheless sat on a case in which that fund was involved. This doesn't appear to have been a breach of professional ethics but rather a matter of not having kept a promise to the senators who passed on his nomination to the court of appeals in 1990. That being so, we have to ask whether the judge thought that there were circumstances which made the promise not relevant to the 2002 case.

In any event, we're sure the good senator from Massachussetts will raise the question in the hearings, and we'll be interested to hear Alito's explanation.