Wash. Times re-writes Alito history

The Washington Times editorial board claims:

It was revealed Friday that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor belongs to the Belizean Grove, a highly selective club for women only. Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont announced Tuesday that her confirmation hearings will begin on July 13. If this judge were a man, the nomination would never make it to the Senate for hearings.

...

We don't care if nominees belong to all-male or all-female clubs, but a double standard is in play. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s supposed membership in an all-male eating club while an undergraduate at Princeton became an issue during his 2006 Supreme Court confirmation hearing.

Where to start? How about with what the paper calls Alito's “supposed membership”? In fact, it was his actual membership in Concerned Alumni of Princeton that was briefly an issue. Alito bragged about his membership in job applications; I think we can drop the pretense that maybe he wasn't actually a member.

Next: “all-male eating club” doesn't begin to describe Concerned Alumni of Princeton. The group wanted to cap the number of women and minorities allowed to attend Princeton, arguing: “a student population of approximately 40 percent women and minorities will largely vitiate the alumni body of the future.”

Finally, Alito's membership in this group that wanted to limit the number of women and minorities allowed at Princeton only “became an issue” during his confirmation hearing in the sense that the media relentlessly and inaccurately attacked Democrats for bringing it up, saying it was “over the line” and “vicious.”

The Times did, however, spell Alito's name correctly. So they have that going for them.