|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
Senators Take Last Turn to Question Alito NewsMax.com Wires WASHINGTON -- An examination of hundreds of documents from the founder of a controversial college alumni group found no mention of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Thursday. The federal judge's membership in Concerned Alumni of Princeton, which discouraged the admission of women and minorities at the Ivy League school, has been a divisive issue at Alito's confirmation hearings, which entered a fourth day Thursday. The questioning so far seems to have done little to alter Alito's prospects for a seat on the Supreme Court, with Republicans confident that the conservative jurist is well-suited for the job while skeptical Democrats warn that President Bush's nominee could help overturn abortion rights. Alito has said he has no recollection of his membership in the Princeton group despite highlighting his involvement on a Reagan-era job application. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said the panel's staff combed through four boxes of documents at the Library of Congress of William Rusher, a founder of CAP, and came across nothing that mentioned Alito. Story Continues Below
"The files contain dozens of articles, including investigative exposes written at the height of the organization's prominence, but Sam Alito's name is nowhere to be found in any of them," Specter said. Senators began Thursday the final round of questions for the man picked to succeed retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. After a Specter's statement in regards to the CAP documents, Democrat Patrick Leahy, Vt., kicked off the hearing's fourth day by asking Alito about the death penalty. The previous two days of questioning focused on abortion rights, executive powers, Alito's affiliation with the controversial Princeton group and his investments in Vanguard funds while hearing cases involving Vanguard. In a contentious Day 3 of hearings Wednesday that at one point left Alito's wife in tears, the federal appeals court judge remained unflappable under persistent questioning by Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats who attacked his credibility. "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," Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said during Democrats' grilling the nominee about whether he now believes, as he did in 1985, that the Constitution contains no right to an abortion. O'Connor, who Alito would succeed if confirmed, has been a swing vote on issues such as abortion, affirmative action and the death penalty, refused to say. "I don't think it's appropriate for me to speak about issues that could realistically come up" before the courts, he said, falling back on a line also used by now-Chief Justice John Roberts and other Supreme Court members during their confirmation hearings. Unlike Roberts, who said at his lower court confirmation hearing in 2003 that he thought Roe v. Wade was "settled law," Alito said it was a precedent that should be respected. He would neither agree nor disagree that it was settled law when asked repeatedly by Durbin. After senators get one last chance at questioning Alito, they will then review the FBI's background report on him in a closed hearing, and listen to public witnesses like the American Bar Association on Alito's qualifications to become the nation's 110th justice. Alito likely has the support of all 10 Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, with at least half of them already declaring they will vote for his confirmation. His prospects for confirmation by the full Senate are also strong, although Democrats have not ruled out the possibility of a filibuster that could require supporters to post 60 votes in the 100-member chamber. "You're going to serve as an outstanding justice on the United States Supreme Court, and I will be supporting you here in the committee and on the floor," declared Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., a potential 2008 presidential nominee who is courting conservative activists. The committee's eight Democrats have not indicated how they would vote on the nomination, but most observers expect a partisan committee vote later this month. Democrats have said in the past that a partisan committee vote opens the possibility of a filibuster.
© 2006 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Print Page 
Forward Page 
|
| All Rights Reserved © 2008 NewsMax.Com |