Alito Could Face Filibuster after Memo Disclosure

By Paul Strand
Washington Sr. Correspondent

CBN.com – WASHINGTON - Judiciary chairman Arlen Specter meets with Samuel Alito for a second time today, possibly to bolster his nomination, even as it appears Democrats are taking a harder line against the nominee.

One leading Democratic senator, Charles Schumer from New York, is now suggesting at least sneakiness on the part of Alito.

The liberal senator says it is "puzzling" that Alito had failed to mention a newly-disclosed 17-page memo that Alito wrote, urging the Reagan administration to back state efforts to slowly erode Roe v. Wade.

Senator Ted Kennedy, another liberal Democrat, is also blasting Alito, saying there are a growing number of discrepancies between Alito's current statements and his past actions.

In this 1985 memo, newly released by the National Archives, Alito urged the Reagan White House not to make a "frontal assault" on Roe v. Wade, but instead back state laws that would help discourage women from getting abortions.

His superiors ignored Alito's advice and asked the Court to altogether throw out the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion.

Alito's boss at the time -- the solicitor general then -- says he himself, not Alito, wrote the part of the legal brief asking the high Court to ditch Roe v. Wade.

And a colleague of Alito's from those days, a lawyer who describes himself as an "openly gay Democrat," says Alito was just being a good lawyer in supporting efforts by his anti-abortion bosses to oppose Roe v. Wade.

This colleague says he believes Alito would not vote to overturn Roe v. Wade because the judge is too respectful of precedents set by the Court.

But Schumer said, "I don't think we've come by a nominee for the Supreme Court, certainly who has stated things so directly and baldly, and even talked about a strategy as a way of overturning roe v. Wade."

The White House shot back at Schumer that what is apparent is that the senator has no intention of giving Alito's nomination any consideration whatsoever.

Some Republicans fear the Democrats may try to filibuster Alito. And that could lead to a major battle in the Senate, and a big public discussion over the role of judges in America today.

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