Senate debates Bush court pick, approval expected

By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel
Alito appeared to have the votes for confirmation on Wednesday
as the Senate began a bitter debate about the conservative
judge who could push the high court to the right.

Democrats said Alito valued presidential power over civil
liberties, and Republicans denounced what they described as a
smear campaign against President George W. Bush’s 55-year-old
nominee.

At least 51 of the Senate’s 55 Republicans, along with at
least one Democrat, plan to vote for Alito, according to an
unofficial tally based on statements and interviews with
lawmakers and aides in the 100-member chamber.

“Judge Alito deserves to become Justice Alito,” said Senate
Republican leader Bill Frist of Tennessee. “Those who oppose
him are smearing a decent and honorable man.”

Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts ripped into
Alito by complaining about what he described as bid for
expanded power by Bush. He cited in particular the
administration’s program of domestic eavesdropping without
warrants.

“The record demonstrates that we cannot count on Judge
Alito to blow the whistle when the president is out of bounds,”
Kennedy said. “He (Alito) is a long-standing advocate for
expanding executive power, even at the expense of core
individual liberties.”

If confirmed, Alito would replace moderate conservative
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and could help move the nine-member
high court to the right on abortion, civil rights and other
hot-button issues.

The Senate began its debate a day after its Judiciary
Committee split 10-8 along party lines to approve Bush’s second
justice on the high court, which the president has promised to
make more conservative.

NO FILIBUSTER

Democrats have not threatened a filibuster since they do
not appear to have the votes to sustain such a procedural
roadblock. But they appear certain to push the Senate into
holding at least a few days of debate.

At the White House, Bush called on the Senate to “put
partisanship aside and give Judge Alito the up-or-down vote he
deserves and to confirm him as the next associate justice of
the Supreme Court.”

Flanked by 39 of Alito’s former law clerks, Bush said, “In
its 216-year history, the Senate has held an up-or-down vote on
every Supreme Court nominee with a majority of Senate support.”

Democrats have made clear they intend to make Alito and the
high-court an issue in the November congressional elections.

Republicans have said they would welcome such a debate and
argued that Alito, a federal appeals judge for the past 15
years, is far more mainstream than many Democratic supporters.

Traditionally, the Senate has approved successful Supreme
Court nominees with broad bipartisan support, but Sen. Jeff
Sessions, an Alabama Republican, charged that Democrats have
sought to mount opposition to Alito to score political points.

The “knife cuts both ways,” Sessions said. “If this is
affirmed, then it will be more difficult in the future for
Democratic presidents to have their nominees confirmed.”

Republican backers have hailed Alito as a fair-minded judge
who received the American Bar Association’s top rating. But
Democratic critics say he has staked out extreme positions on
such matters as abortion, civil rights and presidential powers.

With Republicans holding 55 of 100 seats in the Senate,
Alito appears certain to be approved. As of Wednesday, only
four Republicans had not disclosed their intentions.

The Senate vote on Alito is expected to be far closer than
the 78-22 one that John Roberts, Bush’s first nomination to the
high court, received in September in being confirmed as U.S.
chief justice.

Half of the Senate’s 44 Democrats voted for Roberts but
only one of them, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, has announced he will
vote for Alito. All but a few other Democrats appear certain to
oppose him.

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan, Vicki Allen, Patsy
Wilson and Donna Smith)