It startles me that Alito's day of nomination and his day of confirmation have twice collided with the parting final legacy of King and Rosa Parks — and, unheralded, with the Warren Court of the 1950s that Alito has pounced on for its so-called activism.

In 1956, a firebomb rocked the home of Coretta and Martin L. King at the start of the bus boycott that Parks and King launched.

Parks and MLK worked together, you remember, in Montgomery to stop the practice of separate rows on buses for black and white riders.  GW Bush acknowledged MLK and Parks together on the birthday of MLK 2 weeks ago and Tuesday in his SOTU.

Bush picked the same day Rosa Parks' body was moved to lie in state at the Capitol to nominate and laud Sam Alito to be the next Supreme Court justice.  Alito dutifully paid a visit to the rotunda to show respect for Rosa Parks. What neither man said in their remarks that day marks a stunning omission:

Rosa Parks' struggle bore its fruit on the day the "activist" Supreme Court decided Browder v. Gayle, an entire year after Rosa's arrest, when the Court ordered a stop to separate seats on buses in the winter of 1956.

Bill Frist (R-TN) with Alito at the
Capitol Rotunda, Oct. 31, 2005