Cruel and Unusual punishment/ Specter finds his cojones

Is it just me or does anyone else think that subjecting Samuel Alito
to being bloviated at by Kennedy, Biden et al during the judiciary
hearings violate the
Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment?

At work I went out to my car at 2:00 break to listen to the news and caught a bit of Senator Arlen Specter's chastisement of Ted Kennedy over his behavior during the hearings. My jaw dropped, I was amazed that Kennedy had pi$$ed off Specter to that level.