The Ethics Dog Has No Bite

13 January 2006

Sen. Graham admitted that he had a pre-hearing meeting with Supreme Court nominee Samuel A Alito last week. This meeting was to put the whitehouse on notice about warrantless wiretaps, according to the Charleston Post and Courier. In an editorial in the same paper today the editor calls Graham's defense of Alito incisive. After the defense Mrs. Alito reportedly burst into tears. The State reported on the incident yeasterday. Here are the videos of Judge Alito's tearful wife and Sen. Graham's apology.

The chatter on the internet blogs has amounted to an accusation of an ethics violation. The drum beat was started by a Wall Street Journal article published on Sunday 9 Jan. and ThnikProgress posted an item entitled Graham’s Behind-the-Scenes Coaching of Alito Could Violate Senate Ethics Rules alleging an ethics violation. The New York Times jumped on the story the next day with an editorial about \"Fairness in the Alito Hearings.\" The Village voice also heaped on with \"Alito and His Coaches.\"

This story is not going to die easily, but the dog just doesn't bark. Sen. Graham did not commit an ethics violation.