US Supreme Court nominee Alito pressed on abortion, club
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-12 11:36

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito faced more aggressive questioning at his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday from Democrats who accused him of evasive answers and challenged his stand on abortion and past membership in a conservative Ivy League alumni group.

Before the hearing recessed for the day, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina chided Democrats for their tactics and Alito's wife, Martha-Ann, tearfully left the Senate hearing room.

"I'm not any kind of a bigot," Alito said after he had been pressed repeatedly about his membership two decades ago in the alumni group that opposed efforts to admit more women and minorities at Princeton University.

"I believe you," Graham said. "I am sorry that you've had to go through this. I am sorry that your family has had to sit here and listen to this."

President George W. Bush has nominated Alito, 55, a federal appeals judge the past 15 years, to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has often been the swing vote on abortion and other social issues on the nine-member court.

While Alito appeared headed for confirmation by the full Republican-led Senate later this month, several Democrats made clear that after a relatively gentle start of proceedings, they were waging an election-year fight.

Sen. Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, kicked off the third day of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, saying he was troubled Alito had not disavowed a 1985 memo in which he wrote that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion."

"I'm concerned that many people will leave this hearing with a question as to whether or not you could be the deciding vote that would eliminate the legality of abortion," said Durbin.

Alito, who wrote the memo as a Reagan administration attorney two decades ago, has not said how he would rule if abortion came before him on the high court. But the nominee reaffirmed his vow to keep an open mind and respect legal precedent and noted the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion had been upheld repeatedly.

Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said, "Judge Alito has responded, but he has not answered."

Democrats continued to raise the abortion issue with Alito, having gotten no clear statement on whether he would vote to overturn the 1973 ruling. After effectively parrying the question the preceding day, Alito repeated earlier responses, increasing frustration for Democrats who fear he will push the high court to the right if confirmed.

DEMOCRATS CITE INCONSISTENCIES

Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the committee's top Democrat, said Democrats were also troubled by what they saw as inconsistencies in many of Alito's answers, from abortion rights to presidential powers to membership in the Princeton alumni group.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, got into a dispute with Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, over committee access to records of the disbanded group called Concerned Alumni of Princeton, or CAP. By the end of the day, a bipartisan review of them had begun.

Alito listed membership in the group in a 1985 application for a job in the Reagan administration. He told the panel he had no recollection of any involvement with the group.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, said, "As a Princeton alumnus, I had concerns about CAP, but I have no concerns about Judge Alito's credibility, integrity and his commitment to protecting the equal rights of all Americans."