hat tip: Drudge Report

I wonder what Ted Kennedy thinks about Justice Alito opposing the Supreme Court conservatives on his very first case, by voting to stay an execution in Missouri

via Ap by way of Breitbart

New Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito split with the court's conservative Wednesday night, refusing to let Missouri execute a death-row inmate contesting lethal injection.

Alito, handling his first case, sided with inmate Michael Taylor, who had won a stay from an appeals court earlier in the evening. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas supported lifting the stay, but Alito joined the remaining five members in turning down Missouri's last-minute request to allow a midnight execution.

Earlier in the day, Alito was sworn in for a second time in a White House ceremony, where he was lauded by President Bush as a man of "steady demeanor, careful judgment and complete integrity."

He was also was given his assignment for handling emergency appeals: Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. As a result, Missouri filed with Alito its request for the high court to void a stay and allow Taylor's execution.

The court's split vote Wednesday night ended a frenzied day of filings. Missouri twice asked the justices to intervene and permit the execution, while Taylor's lawyers filed two more appeals seeking delays.

UPDATE: My two favorite bloggers, Michelle Malkin and Expose The Left, already beat me to this. Geez they were fast... That's the last time I step away to take a shower... Well, not really.

UPDATE AGAIN: I am sitting here wondering what the libs will say about this, and see that the Kos Kids already have a poll on Alito's motivations for this decision. Results so far: