Sen. Durbin Joins List of Democrats Who Say They’Ll Oppose Alito
CHICAGO _ Raising questions about Judge Samuel Alito’s stances on issues from executive power to abortion, Sen. Dick Durbin on Thursday said he would not support Alito’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
The Illinois Democrat’s announcement, made to a nearly packed hall at Northwestern University’s School of Law in Chicago, coincided with similar statements from Democratic Sens. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Ken Salazar of Colorado. Leahy and Salazar supported President Bush’s previous nominee, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., though Durbin did not.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to approve Alito’s nomination on a party-line vote next week and move the nomination to the full Senate where a confirmation vote is expected to follow by the end of the week.
In explaining why he would not vote for Alito in committee, Durbin noted that the federal appellate judge would be replacing Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who often was a critical swing vote on the court. Durbin said that over the last decade O’Connor was the fifth vote in 148 of the 193 Supreme Court cases decided by a 5-4 margin.
While acknowledging Alito was a qualified legal scholar, Durbin said his views on privacy, abortion and executive power were out of step with mainstream public opinion. He also said Alito was evasive in answering questions on those topics and others during last week’s confirmation hearings.
“What did we learn about Judge Alito in his confirmation hearings? Unfortunately, very little,” Durbin said. “Judge Alito was extremely guarded in his answers. He was even less forthcoming than Chief Justice Roberts was in his confirmation hearings.”
Durbin was particularly critical of what he termed Alito’s “deference to established institutions over individuals” and argued that Alito “failed to show that he will protect the average American from the overreaching hand of government.”
“I’m concerned … that what Judge Alito is going to do to the Supreme Court is to make a significant change when it comes to our personal freedoms and our privacy,” Durbin said. “Once having lost those, I don’t know how we reclaim them. And all the laws passed by Congress can just be wiped away by a Supreme Court decision.”
In their announcements, Leahy and Salazar questioned whether Alito would stand up to a president seeking to exceed their powers.
“Can this president, or any president, order illegal spying on Americans? Can this president, or any president, authorize torture, in defiance of our criminal statutes and our international agreements? Can this president, or any president, defy our laws and Constitution to hold American citizens in custody indefinitely without any court review?” Leahy asked in his statement.
“There is no reason to believe that Judge Alito will serve as an effective check and balance on government intrusion into the lives of Americans,” he added. “Indeed, his record suggests otherwise.”
For his party, Salazar said in a statement that Alito “would place too much power in the hands of the president of the United States.”
Other Democrats who have vowed to oppose Alito include Tom Harkin of Iowa, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland.
Durbin said Democrats are still discussing a possible filibuster to block Alito’s appointment. He declined to say whether he supported such an action.
“It’s a matter of counting noses,” Durbin said. “If you don’t have the numbers. You don’t have the votes. You don’t have a filibuster.”
As Democrats hammered Alito, a number of Republican senators voiced their support for him, including Conrad Burns of Montana, Mel Martinez of Florida, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Pat Roberts of Kansas, John Thune of South Dakota and Kit Bond and Jim Talent, both of Missouri.
“Judge Alito’s extensive judicial experience, coupled with the highest approval rating given by the American Bar Association, demonstrates his ample qualifications to serve on the United States Supreme Court,” said Roberts of Kansas.
None of the Senate’s 55 Republicans have said they will oppose Alito.
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