Why Faux Won’t Show The Alito Ad

Lindsay and the Carpetbagger Report note that Fox News has rejected an ad critical of Alito. What’s puzzling is exactly why the ad was pulled–the Yahoo article doesn’t say. Lindsay assumes that it’s the (completely accurate) strip search reference. Justin Gardner, working from the same article, claims (without saying where he’s getting it from) that the problem with the ad is in the claim that Alito “ruled to make it easier for corporations to discriminate,” and defends Fox because he thinks the claim is “isn’t correct.” But the argument about discrimination is of course substantively accurate. Alito, in fact, has interpreted anti-discrimination law in a way that would make it considerably harder to bring suits against corporations, and this would by definition make it easier for corporations to discriminate. So what’s the problem? PFAW has the answer:

Fox News told IndependentCourt.org that it would not run the ad because it uses the words “ruling” and “voted” in reference to a dissenting opinion issued by Alito as a federal circuit judge.

So the problem–which Gardner is, perhaps unintentionally, quite misleading about–is not any substantive claim about his jurisprudence, but some technicalities. And, yes, it is technically inaccurate to say that he “ruled” about employment discrimination in Bray v. Marriot Hotels, since the opinion referenced here was so illogical and wingnutty it was a dissent, and not a controlling opinion (so his opinion thankfully could not “rule.”) The same it true, of course, about Groody. Complaining about the use of the word “vote” is even more trivial hair-splitting; it’s obvious what it means in context, and I don’t think it’s inaccurate at all. As PFAW notes, both descriptions are common ways of describing opinions in the media. Does anybody think that this use of terms would have caused any problems if it was a pro-Alito ad? But, at any rate, apparently even Faux isn’t claiming that the ad is substantively inaccurate, because it isn’t, although its refusal of the ad will create that impression. Which I’m sure is the point.