Alito Is Confirmed To Supreme Court
Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Samuel A. Alito Jr. won U.S. Senate confirmation to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in a mostly partisan vote that helps President George W. Bush move the Supreme Court to the right.
The Senate voted 58-42 to elevate Alito from a Philadelphia- based appeals court, where he has served since 1990, to be the nation's 110th Supreme Court justice. Alito watched the vote from the White House along with Bush. He will be sworn in today in time to attend the president's State of the Union speech to Congress along with Bush's other high court appointee, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
FOUR Democrats joined 54 Republicans in voting for Alito, whose nomination spurred a partisan debate over whether he would scale back abortion rights or check Bush's claims of war-time powers to fight terrorism. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island was the only Republican to oppose Alito.
``There is a grave risk he carries a legal agenda, one that he will bring with him to the Supreme Court,'' said Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg, who represents Alito's home state of New Jersey.
The rancorous fight over Alito was in contrast to the more harmonious confirmation of Roberts by a vote of 78-22 in September. Roberts replaced the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, a staunch conservative unlike O'Connor, who has been a pivotal vote on such issues as abortion, affirmative action and civil rights.
The number of votes against Alito was the second highest total for a confirmed justice. Clarence Thomas was approved 52-48 by the Senate in 1991.
Political Agenda
Republicans accused Democrats of opposing Alito because he didn't promise at confirmation hearings to promote their party's political agenda.
``Why do liberal special-interest groups and their allies in this body oppose Judge Alito so vehemently?'' asked Texas Republican John Cornyn. ``The reason is that he has refused to do their bidding.''
The son of an Italian immigrant, Alito, 55, grew up in Trenton, New Jersey, was educated at Princeton University and Yale Law School. He joined the Justice Department as an assistant U.S. attorney and rose to become a deputy attorney general in President Ronald Reagan's administration.
He was appointed to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush, the current president's father.
Political Consequences
Democrats warned that decisions Alito renders on the court may become a political issue.
``Votes like these do have consequences on future elections,'' said New York Senator Charles E. Schumer, who heads the Democratic Party's effort to try retake control of the Senate this year. ``When the people actually see the decisions that are rendered by the new court, they will have a strong and countervailing reaction,'' he said.
Democrats argued that Alito was evasive at his confirmation hearings in answering questions about abortion and presidential power, though he had taken strong positions on the issues as a government lawyer or a judge. They cited 1985 memos he wrote stating that the Constitution didn't protect the right to abortion.
Opponents also highlighted a 2000 speech Alito gave supporting the theory of the `unitary executive' as evidence he would uphold Bush's claims of power to detain suspected terrorists without criminal charges or to wiretap the international phone calls of Americans without court warrants.
Presidential Power
Alito testified that he didn't support expanding presidential power. The unitary executive only meant the degree of control the president has over the executive branch, not the scope of the chief executive's power, Alito said.
Democrats were unconvinced.
``Judge Alito did nothing to distance himself from these positions,'' said Robert Menendez, the newly appointed Democratic senator from New Jersey. ``By refusing to candidly discuss where he stands on executive power, he only strengthens my concern about his views.''
Chafee, who is seeking re-election in a predominantly Democratic state, said he is concerned that Alito refused to say the high court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion was settled law.
Like many Democrats who opposed confirmation, Chafee cited Alito's dissent from a 1991 opinion on the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit that struck down a Pennsylvania law requiring women to inform their spouses of plans to end pregnancies.
Democrats also cited a 1985 memo he wrote as a Justice Department lawyer recommending a legal strategy for persuading the Supreme Court to chip away at abortion rights and ultimately to overturn Roe.
Abortion Rights
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Bush picked Alito only after ``the right-wing torpedoed the nomination of White House Counsel Harriet Miers'' because Republican activists lacked confidence she would support ``their extreme agenda.''
Utah Republican Orrin Hatch argued that the opposition to Alito was based solely on concern he would vote to limit or overturn abortion rights.
``This is all about abortion,'' Hatch said. ``That is the be-all and end-all issue of those who oppose Judge Alito.''. He called Roe v. Wade ``the 800-pound precedent in the room'' and accused Alito's opponents of rigidly clinging to it while seeking to overturn other precedents.
Futile Filibuster
Democrats staged a futile effort to mount a filibuster to derail the nomination. The Senate voted 72-25 yesterday to end debate on the nomination, clearing the way for today's vote. Nineteen Democrats voted against sustaining the filibuster.
``This nominee is not going to be friendly to the average worker, friendly to women's rights and friendly on the issues of race,'' said Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy.
Cornyn charged that Democrats supported the filibuster because they had ``fallen under the spell'' of advocacy groups that oppose Alito. ``We have more important things to do here than to stage events to facilitate fund-raising by special- interest groups,'' he said.
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How do you folks thing this is going to effect things over the coming years now that we seem to be heading in the direction Bush wants the country to head?
Regards,
Lee
