Alito’s fellow judges back his high-court bid

By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal appeals court colleagues of
U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, in a relatively rare
move, plan to testify in support of him at next week’s Senate
confirmation hearing.

Republicans who control the Senate Judiciary Committee said
on Friday a half dozen of Alito’s fellow and former colleagues,
led by Anthony Scirica, chief judge of the Philadelphia-based
3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, had accepted invitations.

“These people really know him,” said Chairman Arlen
Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican.

Specter said he initially asked one of the judges, Edward
Becker, if he would be willing to appear and that Becker and
others soon agreed.

Judges have rarely testified at confirmation hearings on
judicial nominees but Specter’s office said they have done so,
most recently in 2004 for a district court candidate.

The Judiciary Committee is set to begin the hearing on
Monday. Alito’s colleagues and other outside witnesses are to
testify after at least two days of questioning of Alito.

U.S. President George W. Bush has nominated Alito, a member
of the 3rd Circuit since 1990, to replace retiring Justice
Sandra Day O’Connor, who often has been the swing vote on
social issues before the nine-member Supreme Court.

Backers portray Alito as a “mainstream conservative” and a
“fair-minded judge” who received the American Bar Association’s
top rating for a seat on the high court.

Largely liberal opponents charge that his record as a judge
and a Reagan administration lawyer two decades ago make him a
threat to such issues as civil rights, abortion rights and
environmental protection.

ALITO’S APPROACH

Specter said Alito’s colleagues “will testify about his
approach to judging, as to whether he has an agenda, as to
whether he is ideological, whether he pushes any specific point
of view.”

While the hearing is expected to produce plenty of partisan
fireworks, it will at least begin with a display of
bipartisanship.

Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg of Alito’s native state of
New Jersey and former Republican New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd
Whitman will formally introduce the nominee to the panel, the
committee said.

Democrats announced their list of witnesses on Thursday.
They include include a constitutional law expert, a veteran
civil rights lawyer and Kate Michelman, a former president of
NARAL Pro-Choice America, an abortion-rights group.

They also called John Flym, a retired law professor who
represented a plaintiff who sued the mutual fund company
Vanguard in a case that Alito helped handle in 2002.

During his 1990 Senate confirmation process for a seat on
the 3rd Circuit, Alito vowed to recuse himself from cases
involving Vanguard since it helped manage his investments.

Alito later argued he was not required legally or ethically
to recuse himself but voluntarily removed himself from the 2002
case after his participation was challenged.

While Alito’s colleagues will tout his credentials and
expertise, a Senate Democratic aide said the judges also will
be forced to fend off pointed questions, including ones about
the Vanguard case.

The Democratic aide said these judicial witnesses may raise
a potential conflict of interest since Alito, if confirmed to
the Supreme Court, could end up ruling on appeals of their
decisions.

In addition to Scirica and Becker, other members of the
appeals court set to testify include: Maryanne Trump Barry,
Ruggero Aldisert and Leonard Garth, along with two retired
members of the court, John Gibbons and Timothy Lewis. Overall,
there are 13 sitting judges on the 3rd Circuit, plus seven
others on senior status, meaning they have a reduced workload.