Alito Likely To Become A Justice

Throughout the week, committee Democrats cited Alito's rulings and writings to press him on several fronts. Alito parried questions about his 1985 statement that the Constitution does not protect the right to abortion by saying he would keep an open mind as a justice.

When Democrats said that he would not act as a check on unbridled presidential powers, he said the president is not above the law, while dodging the issue of whether Bush's recently disclosed domestic surveillance program is legal. He said he had been forgetful in not recusing himself in a case involving the Vanguard investment company and in joining a Princeton alumni group that sought to limit the enrollment of women and minorities.

At the hearings' outset on Monday, many liberals and conservatives thought Alito would be more vulnerable than Roberts was to Democrats' attacks because he had a longer and more overtly conservative record to defend, and because senators from both parties described him as less charming and erudite in private meetings. Yesterday, activists in both camps said Alito had avoided all major traps by maintaining his calm and refusing to be drawn into definitive statements about divisive issues such as abortion.

"I was a little apprehensive going in," said M. Edward Whelan III, a conservative commentator supporting Alito. "But in his way, he was at least as impressive as Roberts."

Nan Aron, head of the liberal Alliance for Justice, which opposes Alito, said Roberts's impressive performance seemed to create momentum that carried over to Alito. When Roberts's hearings began in September, she said, "you could feel an air of excitement," largely because it was the court's first vacancy in a decade.

When Alito's hearings began, Aron said, "much of the energy was deflated in that room." Although some liberal activists wanted Democrats to question the nominee more aggressively, Aron did not fault their performance. "Most of the problematic issues have been touched on by the senators," she said.

Wednesday's biggest bang ended in a whimper yesterday, when committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) announced that Alito's name was not found during a late-night search of documents at the Library of Congress dealing with the group Concerned Alumni of Princeton. Alito had boasted about his membership in a 1985 job application in the Reagan administration but told senators he could recall nothing about the group, which opposed increased enrollment of women and minorities at Princeton.

Several Republicans said Democrats' efforts were hurt Wednesday when Alito's wife fled the hearing room in tears after Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) summarized the attacks related to the alumni group.

Yesterday, Democrats instead forged ahead on other fronts. Alito declined to answer questions about efforts to rescind the Supreme Court's jurisdiction over certain types of cases, such as those involving school desegregation, saying he did not want to "hazard an answer" without further study.

Under questioning by Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), Alito said "the Constitution is designed to prevent" what he called the "tragedy of having an innocent person executed." But, unlike Roberts, he stopped short of saying that the Constitution prevents such an execution.

After Alito's hearings concluded about 1 p.m., senators heard from witness panels favoring and opposing the nomination. The panels, which Alito is not attending, are scheduled to end today.

In a first for Supreme Court nomination hearings, seven of Alito's current and former colleagues from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit testified on his behalf. Retired judge Timothy Lewis, who sat with Alito for seven years and described himself as "unapologetically pro-choice," said that although he has sometimes disagreed with Alito, "I cannot recall one instance" when "he exhibited anything remotely resembling an ideological bent."

Civil rights leaders and abortion rights advocates are among those scheduled to testify today in opposition to Alito. In prepared texts of their remarks, they characterized his record as being insensitive to women and minorities.