Top Senate Democrats oppose Alito nomination

By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Three top Senate Democrats said on
Thursday they will vote against Supreme Court nominee Samuel
Alito because they fear he would not provide an effective check
to what they described as President George W. Bush’s bid for
expanded power.

While Alito appeared headed toward confirmation by the
Republican-led Senate, Sens. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Dick
Durbin of Illinois and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts made the
case against Bush’s 55-year-old conservative candidate.

They expressed concern that if confirmed, Alito, a federal
appeals judge since 1990, would push the nation’s highest court
to the right on a number of fronts, including abortion, civil
rights, presidential powers and separation of church and state.

Even if Democrats cannot stop Alito from becoming a Supreme
Court Justice, they want to set the stage to make him an issue
in November congressional elections, along with Bush’s recently
disclosed domestic spying program without court warrants.

“I will not lend my support to an effort by this president
to move the Supreme Court and the law radically to the right,”
said Leahy, top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, which
plans to vote on Alito’s nomination on Tuesday and send it to
the full Senate.

“There is no reason to believe that Judge Alito will serve
as an effective check and balance on government intrusion,”
Leahy said in a speech in Washington. “Indeed, his record
suggests otherwise.”

Durbin, the assistant Senate Democratic leader, said,
“Based on his record, I’m concerned that Judge Alito will not
be willing to stand up to a president who is determined to
seize too much power over our personal lives.”

In a speech prepared for delivery in Chicago, Durbin also
said, “In case after case, he has voted — often as the lone
dissenter on his court — against the dispossessed, the poor
and the powerless.”

Kennedy, the leading liberal voice in Congress, announced
his opposition to Alito, declaring, “His record just does not
show a judge who is committed to equal justice under law.”

PRAISE AND FRUSTRATION

If confirmed, Alito would replace retiring Justice Sandra
Day O’Connor, a moderate conservative who often has been the
swing vote on the nine-member court on social issues.

At his confirmation hearing before the Judiciary Committee
last week, Alito won praise from Republicans, who noted he
received the American Bar Association’s top rating for a seat
on the high court based on his qualifications, integrity and
judicial temperament.

But Alito repeatedly frustrated Democrats.

Democrats were unable to secure a commitment from Alito,
who opposed abortion while a Reagan administration lawyer two
decades ago, that if confirmed to the Supreme Court he would
uphold its 1973 decision that legalized abortion.

Democrats also wrestled with Alito over his views of
presidential powers, which they argued were overly broad. Alito
deflected questions about the legality of the administration’s
warrantless eavesdropping on Americans but did say no president
was above the law.

“At a time when the president is seizing unprecedented
power, the Supreme Court needs to act as a check and to provide
balance,” Leahy said. “I have no confidence that Judge Alito
would provide that check and balance.”

All but perhaps a handful of the Senate’s 44 Democrats and
one independent are expected to vote against Alito. But so far
none of them have threatened a filibuster, largely since they
are not expected to muster the needed support to sustain such a
procedural hurdle in the 100-member Senate.