Samuel Alito |
Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. became the nation's 110th Supreme Court justice today after the most partisan vote for a high court nominee in recent history.
The Senate confirmed President Bush's choice to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor by a 58-42 count. Only four Democrats backed Alito, joining 54 of the chamber's 55 Republicans. Sen. Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island was the only GOP member to oppose the nomination.
Democrats voting for confirmation were Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Robert Byrd of West Virginia.
Yesterday, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts tried to rally support for a filibuster, but a bipartisan majority blocked the attempt as 19 Democrats decided against it.
Kerry, the 2004 presidential nominee, said a filibuster "is the only way we can stop a confirmation that we feel certain will cause irreversible damage to our country."
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., argued in Senate debate that Alito would "tilt that court in a direction that will restrict personal freedoms, strengthen the role of government and corporations in our lives and allow the expansion of power of the presidency."
Alito, sworn in today at the Supreme Court in a private ceremony, watched the vote from the White House's Roosevelt Room with his family. He will join President Bush tonight at the State of the Union speech.
The Supreme Court reconvenes Feb. 17 and will begin hearing oral arguments four days later.
Kerry, in his remarks during Senate debate last week, said Bush has "nominated a man who consistently defers to the government action regardless of how egregious it may be; a man who erects rather than breaks down barriers in the area of civil rights, a man who, to this day, has never retreated from his declaration that the Constitution does not protect a woman's right to privacy, a man who has demonstrated a persistent insensitivity to the history of racial discrimination in this country and, was even, at the government’s request, willing to ignore overwhelming evidence that African Americans were intentionally stricken from an all-white jury in a black defendant’s capital case."
The nomination passed the Senate Judiciary Committee one week ago on a 10-8, partisan-line vote.
Responding to Kerry's call for a filibuster, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., declared during floor remarks Thursday, "This isn't going to happen."
"I know people get desperate fearing something is going to happen to their liberal agenda," he said, "... but nowhere did our founding fathers say that to approve a judge you had to have a super majority."
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist had said that if the Democrats decided to filibuster, he would employ the "nuclear option" to ban the procedure, which requires a majority vote in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Bush nominated Alito Oct. 31, just four days after the withdrawal of Harriet Miers, re-energizing his conservative base and touching off fierce Democratic opposition.
Miers, a White House counsel, withdrew after conservatives mobilized opposition over her qualifications and evidence she lacked a strong judicial philosophy. On Capitol Hill, senators from both parties expressed doubts about her suitability for the high court after she made the rounds to 28 Senate offices. Bush, who said he reluctantly accepted her decision, insisted he could not give in to demands from the Senate to release White House documents protected by executive privilege.
Alito's nomination immediately was opposed by liberal advocacy groups, including Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which said his "confirmation would radically transform the Supreme Court and create a direct threat to the health and safety of American women."
During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings earlier this month, Democrats repeatedly pressed Alito for his views on the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, with several making the point he was nominated to replace O'Connor, a swing vote on many cases involving abortion.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., finally gave up, stating, "We can only conclude that if the question came before the court, it is very likely you would vote to overrule Roe versus Wade."
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, immediately took Schumer to task for the line of questioning, comparing it to asking whether someone has stopped beating his wife.
"It's rather telling," Cornyn told Alito, "that Senator Schumer said he didn't expect you to answer the question."
Some senators, Cornyn said, already have decided to vote against Alito and wanted to accuse the nominee of being unresponsive.
Responding to today's vote, Mathew D. Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, said his conservative advocacy legal group applauds Bush for "keeping his campaign promise to appoint justices who respect the Constitution and who will interpret the law, not legislate from the bench."
Joseph Cella, president of the Catholic advocacy group Fidelis said the "state of the union is stronger with Justice Alito on the Supreme Court, and ushers a new era of respect for the rule of law."
"Without a doubt, Justice Alito's confirmation is the single biggest domestic victory to date for President Bush," he said.
Cella said Alito and his family "faced unprecedented attacks by liberal groups and their allies in the Senate with great dignity."
"These scorched earth attacks on Justice Alito have failed and have disgraced the Senate and the important process of confirmation hearings," he continued. "Americans reject such mean-spirited political attacks and Americans reject judicial activism."
Alito served 15 years on the 3rd Court of Appeals after his nomination in 1990 by President George H. W. Bush.
A Trenton, N.J., native of Italian heritage, Alito attended Princeton University and earned a law degree from Yale University, President Bush's alma mater.
He was U.S. attorney for the district of New Jersey, 1987-1990; deputy assistant to the U.S. attorney general, 1985-1987; and assistant to the U.S. solicitor general, 1981-1985.
Alito, who has argued 12 Supreme Court cases, also clerked for Judge Leonard Garth of the 3rd Circuit, now his colleague on that court.
Among his associations are the Federalist Society, New Jersey Federal Bar Association, New Jersey State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.
Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann Bomgardner, live in West Caldwell, N.J. They have two children, a college-age son, Philip, and a younger daughter, Laura.
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