Sen. Johnson says it’s too early to judge Alito

South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson talked to Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito about “a whole range of constitutional issues” Tuesday, though he says it is too early to draw any conclusions about the veteran judge.

Johnson said it would be “some time” before he makes a decision about the conservative nominee, who already faces opposition from several liberal groups and abortion-rights supporters.

OK. Not too bad for this stage of things.

Later, in a conference call with reporters, Johnson said he hoped the hearing process would move quickly but be thorough.

Still sounds reasonable, eh? But wait…

He said he would not rule out a filibuster from his party. “I would leave all those options on the table,” he said.

After all this, the Chief forms a mental image of Senator Tim carefully holding a moist finger up to check the wind direction before he says anything definite.

The Chief’s projection on this: if it looks inevitable that Alito will win the “advice and consent” of the Senate, TJ will probably be released to support him. Otherwise, he’ll probably say NYET!

But hey! What do I know, really?