Senators to Demand Full Answers From Alito

Democrats Signal Willingness to Delay Final Vote on Supreme Court Confirmation

Senate Democrats warned Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. yesterday to expect pointed questions at next week's hearing, and said they may postpone a final vote on his confirmation until late January.

Alito's hearing before the Judiciary Committee, scheduled to begin Monday, will last a week if it tracks last year's confirmation process for Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. A Democratic member, Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), said yesterday that senators will ask extensive questions and insist that Alito answer them fully -- even if it means pushing the hearing into the following week.

All judicial nominees are required to respond to senators' queries, Schumer said in a speech in Washington. "The obligation, however, is greater for some nominees," he said. "It is greater when a nominee has taken a clear position on a legal matter."

Schumer said Alito has written extensively about executive and congressional powers, abortion and "the issue of personal autonomy."

"On at least these issues and perhaps many others," he said, "Judge Alito has more to answer for than any other Supreme Court nominee in memory."

In a similar vein, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) told reporters that Alito faces "a steep hill to climb." But he would not speculate on whether Democrats, who hold 44 of the Senate's 100 seats, might use a filibuster to try to block a confirmation vote.

In a day of dueling news conferences by liberal and conservative groups, Alito's supporters said he is no more obligated to answer all questions than were previous nominees, several of whom sidestepped queries about pending or past Supreme Court cases.

"I expect Judge Alito will answer a lot of questions just in the same way that Chief Justice Roberts did and the same way that Ruth Bader Ginsburg did," Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) said in a conference call with reporters. Ginsburg was named to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.

Republicans hope the Judiciary Committee can vote Jan. 17 on whether to recommend Alito, allowing the full Senate to confirm or reject him a few days later. But Schumer said Democrats have not decided whether to use their right to postpone the committee vote for one week, as is often done with federal court nominees. If they do, the committee's vote would occur no sooner than Jan. 24.

At a news conference of women's groups supporting Alito, Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America said advertising by liberal groups opposing the nomination is having little impact.

"I think we're not seeing very much opposition to Judge Alito," she said. "The portrait that is drawn of him by those who know him and know his writings is of a man of great intelligence, integrity, fairness, humility and justice. . . . Judge Alito's record and history reveals a person who provides a model for Supreme Court justices."

Several anti-Alito groups continued their efforts yesterday, including the release of a letter signed by nearly 500 law school professors criticizing the nominee. "Based on his 15-year record on the bench, we believe that Judge Alito would reshape the law in ways that make our country less equal and less free," the letter said.