Alito and Abortion

[Annie]

The games are beginning!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051115/ap_on_go_su_co/alito

Documents Reveal Alito's Abortion View

By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 13 minutes ago

Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito's own words are offering abortion rights and civil rights supporters new fodder in their campaign to impede his bid for a seat on the nation's highest court.

Documents released Monday show Alito in 1985 telling the Reagan administration he was particularly proud to help argue that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion," a statement senators want to know more about before voting on his candidacy for the Supreme Court.

"This puts a much stronger onus on Judge Alito to answer questions on this subject," said Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y., who called the 1985 document "the strongest statement we've seen from a nominee on this very controversial subject for a long time."

Added Republican Susan Collins of Maine: "This is an area that should be further explored in his confirmation hearings."

The document, released by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Monday, shows a young Alito applying to become deputy assistant attorney general and saying his previous government work had included helping "to advance legal positions in which I personally believe very strongly."

"I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government argued that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion," wrote Alito, who was then working for the solicitor general's office.

Alito's supporters say there's nothing surprising in that statement.

He "joins a long list of jurists who have written that Roe was wrongly decided, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg before she was confirmed to the court," said Sen. John Cornyn (news, bio, voting record), R-Texas, a Judiciary Committee member.

"The question is whether he will put his personal views aside as any judge should and base his rulings on what the Constitution says," he added. "His long track record as a federal appeals court judge shows that he has indeed put his personal views on abortion aside, and I have every confidence he will continue to do so."

President Bush picked Alito after White House counsel Harriet Miers withdrew her Supreme Court nomination when confronted by withering criticism by some conservatives.

"This may explain why the right wing expressed such enthusiastic support for Judge Alito after campaigning against Harriet Miers," said Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., a Judiciary Committee member and one of several senators who will meet with Alito privately on Tuesday.

Alito would replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has been a deciding vote on abortion on the Supreme Court. Alito's opponents fear that he and recently confirmed Chief Justice John Roberts would swing the Supreme Court to the right and lead to the overturning of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision establishing abortion rights.

Alito, 55, has told senators in his two weeks of private meetings that he has "great respect" for Roe v. Wade as a precedent, but he did not commit to upholding it.

Some abortion rights groups already have come out against Alito because of his work as a federal appellate judge, including a dissent on an appeals court decision striking down a law requiring women seeking abortions to notify their spouses.

But White House spokesman Steven Schmidt said Alito's 15 years as a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals shows "a clear pattern of modesty, respect for precedent and judicial restraint."

Alito also wrote in the document that he believed "very strongly in limited government, federalism, free enterprise, the supremacy of the elected branches of government, the need for a strong defense and effective law enforcement and the legitimacy of a government role in protecting traditional values."

Kennedy wrote to Alito on Monday questioning his explanations for ruling on a Vanguard case after telling the committee in 1990 that he would recuse himself from cases involving that company. Alito holds six-figure investments with Vanguard.

In a Thursday letter, Alito told senators he was "unduly restrictive" in promising to avoid Vanguard's appeals cases, and he did not believe he was required to disqualify himself on the basis of ownership of shares in a mutual fund. The White House has added that there was a computer glitch that allowed the disqualification issue to slip through undetected.

The Vanguard name was prominent throughout the case, Kennedy said. "Surely, whatever the system, the oversight should have been obvious when the case reached you," the letter said.