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Senate debates Bush court pick, approval expected

Posted on: Wednesday, 25 January 2006, 18:05 CST

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)

Source: REUTERS

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