supreme court
Fight Brews over Alito Abortion Statement
By David Brody
Capitol Hill Correspondent
CBN.com – WASHINGTON - Will the Democrats try to filibuster Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito?
Liberals on Capitol Hill are raising big questions about his views on abortion.
Alito trudges back to Capitol Hill today. He will meet with senators like Ted Kennedy (D-MA) who will be armed with some serious questions.
Twenty years ago, when applying to be deputy assistant attorney general in the Reagan administration, Alito outlined a list of his conservative views and then wrote that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion."
Constitutional expert Tom Goldstein stated, "It is a clear unequivocal statement by Sam Alito of where he stands on really the major social issues that the Supreme Court confronts including abortion, and it says he personally has as conservative views on those questions as you could imagine."
Liberal Democrats on the Hill are already sounding the alarm. Kennedy calls the abortion comment extreme and deeply troubling. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) says this is the strongest statement from a nominee on this controversial subject for a long time.
Liberal groups are preparing for a fight.
"He would vote to overturn precedents protecting privacy, equal opportunity, religious liberty, and so much more than that,” asserted Ralph Neas from People for the American Way.
Republicans say, what's the big fuss? They contend that Alito joins a long list of constitutional scholars and judges who have written that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided. And that includes current Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
Wendy Long of the Judicial Confirmation Network remarked, "It doesn't say anything about how he's going to rule on any particular case that comes before the court. And the one thing we know about him is that he's a fair, impartial judge who doesn't prejudge any case that’s going to come before him."
Conservatives and Democrats agree that abortion is the main issue that drives the debate over all federal court nominees. Just recently, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said that the central issue is always abortion and that the whole judiciary is being held hostage on that one issue.
The White House is trying to downplay this latest criticism, and the administration's communications director, Nicolle Devenish, told CBN News that the debate should be focused on credentials.
"The job of the Senate is to look at his qualifications and evaluate him based on his qualifications, and I think it's clear to everyone, Judge Alito is extraordinarily and exceptionally qualified to be a Supreme Court justice," Devenish said.
That may be true, but with this new document providing fresh ammunition to Democrats, that may not be enough to stop renewed talk of a filibuster.
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