Former Ku Klux Klan member Senator Robert Byrd has officially disavowed the KKK for years. Yet, there have been published reports that Byrd will oppose a filibuster against Samuel Alito and may actually vote to confirm Alito to the Supreme Court.

This is disturbing. Alito embodied the racist, sexist, and homophobic values of the Ku Klux Klan throughout his adult life. Even worse, Alito often has used his position as a federal judge to violate statutes and the US Constitution in order to promote those bigoted values.

If Byrd does not support the filibuster of Alito, he will be making it clear that he may no longer be a card-carrying member of the KKK, but that a part of him will always cherish the KKK's values.