UPDATE: Check out our new campaign, Alito’s America.

CNN reports that “President Bush will nominate 3rd Circuit Appeals Court Judge Samuel Alito for the U.S. Supreme Court.” Who is Samuel Alito? ThinkProgress has the facts:

ALITO WOULD OVERTURN ROE V. WADE: In his dissenting opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Alito concurred with the majority in supporting the restrictive abortion-related measures passed by the Pennsylvania legislature in the late 1980′s. Alito went further, however, saying the majority was wrong to strike down a requirement that women notify their spouses before having an abortion. The Supreme Court later rejected Alito’s view, voting to reaffirm Roe v. Wade. [Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 1991]

ALITO WOULD ALLOW RACE-BASED DISCRIMINATION: Alito dissented from a decision in favor of a Marriott Hotel manager who said she had been discriminated against on the basis of race. The majority explained that Alito would have protected racist employers by “immuniz[ing] an employer from the reach of Title VII if the employer’s belief that it had selected the ‘best’ candidate was the result of conscious racial bias.” [Bray v. Marriott Hotels, 1997]

ALITO WOULD ALLOW DISABILITY-BASED DISCRIMINATION: In Nathanson v. Medical College of Pennsylvania, the majority said the standard for proving disability-based discrimination articulated in Alito’s dissent was so restrictive that “few if any”¦cases would survive summary judgment.” [Nathanson v. Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1991]

ALITO WOULD STRIKE DOWN THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT: The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) “guarantees most workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a loved one.” The 2003 Supreme Court ruling upholding FMLA [Nevada v. Hibbs, 2003] essentially reversed a 2000 decision by Alito which found that Congress exceeded its power in passing the law. [Chittister v. Department of Community and Economic Development, 2000] Read more

President Bush will nominate Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court at 8 a.m. ET.

In an earlier post we criticized Powerline’s John Hinderacker for arguing that Fitzgerald “appears to have concluded that Plame was not, in fact, a covert agent.” We noted that the indictment concludes “her employment status was classified,” which suggests she was a covert agent.

Hinderacker maturely responds to the “ignoramus” website who dared criticize his analysis. His point is that the definition of a “covert agent” under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act requires the employee’s identity to be classified and travel outside of the United States within the last five years.

Hinderacker doesn’t provide any information that suggests Ms. Wilson didn’t travel overseas in the five years prior to her outing. There’s probably a good reason. On October 8, 2003 the Washington Post reported her neighbors, prior to her outing, “knew Valerie Wilson as a consultant who traveled frequently overseas.” Read more

[This is the third part of a Think Progress series breaking down the significance of the Libby indictment.]

At various points in the indictments, evidence is put forth to suggest that a broad, collaborative effort was undertaken in the Bush administration to smear Joe Wilson.

1. Libby “participated in discussions in the Office of the Vice President concerning how to respond” to Walter Pincus’s story in the Washington Post suggesting that the Bush administration was aware of bad intelligence on uranium prior to the war (see #8).

2. Libby had “a conversation” with Official A [Rove] in which the identity of Wilson’s wife was discussed (see #21).

3. Libby had discussions aboard Air Force 2 with officials in the Vice President’s office regarding how best to respond “to certain pending media inquiries, including questions from Time reporter Matthew Cooper,” about Wilson’s claims (see #22).

4. After Libby asked the Under Secretary of State to investigate Wilson’s trip, the State Department official told Libby that his wife worked at the CIA (see #4 and 6).

5. Libby had lunch with White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer in which they discussed the fact that Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA (see #16) [comment: Ari seems to have flipped]

“If Mr. Cheney can’t address the questions about his conduct, if he can’t be forthcoming about the activities in his office that gave rise to the investigation, then he should resign. And if he won’t resign, Mr. Bush should demand his resignation.”

[This is the second part of a Think Progress series breaking down the significance of the Libby indictment.]

In at least three instances, it appears from the facts outlined in the indictments that Libby was aware that Valerie Plame was an undercover CIA agent.

1. Libby spoke to his Principal Deputy [John Hannah] about an article in The New Republic and discussed whether they could share information about the role of Wilson’s wife in sending him to Niger. “Libby responded that there would be complications at the CIA in disclosing that information publicly, and that he could not discuss the matter on a non-secure telephone line.” (see #14) [comment: Hannah appears to have flipped]

CORRECTION: TRN’s Ryan Lizza says the “Principal Deputy” is in fact Eric Edelman.

2. In a lunch with Ari Fleischer, Libby tells him that Wilson’s wife works at the CIA and “noted that such information was not widely known.”

3. In a conversation with Judith Miller, Libby specifically asked that the information on Plame’s identity be attributed to a “former Hill staffer” rather than to a “‘senior administration official,’ as had been the understanding with respect to other information that Libby provided to Miller during this meeting.” (see #17)

UPDATE:

A reader points out a crucial piece of information from the indictment strongly indicates that Libby knew Plame worked undercover and then misrepresented that knowledge. Read more

[This is the first part of a Think Progress series breaking down the significance of the Libby indictment.]

There are a few instances in the indictments that point to a larger role that Dick Cheney may have played in the leak. Here are some examples:

1. Libby was “advised by the Vice President” that “Wilson’s wife worked” at the CIA in the Counterproliferation Division (see #9). The verb “advised by” is oddly-placed and echoes language from fact #16 when Libby “advises” Ari Fleischer about Plame’s identity. The verb seems to be synonymous with “instructed.” This discussion, referenced in fact #9, follows a staff meeting in the VP’s office the preceding day (see #8) in which Wilson was discussed. Was Cheney trying to emphasize what he saw as the most strategic attack to Pincus’s column?

2. While onboard Air Force Two with Cheney, Libby is reported to have “discussed with other officials aboard the plane” what to say in response to media inquires about Wilson (see #22). See Talking Points Memo for more about Cheney’s role on this flight.

3. On p.21 of the indictment, a transcript of Libby’s grand jury testimony is provided. The prosecutors ask Libby why he was telling reporters that his source of knowledge for Plame’s identity was “a reporter rather than the Vice-President.”