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Judiciary Committee to Open Alito Hearings NewsMax.com Wires WASHINGTON --President Bush urged senators on Monday to give Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito a fair vote, while Democrats told Bush on the opening day of Alito's confirmation hearings that neither Congress nor the high court should follow the president in lockstep. Executive authority is certain to be a critical issue. The Senate Judiciary Committee began hearings on Bush's choice of Alito to be the 110th justice in U.S. history amid a debate over the president's secret authorization of wiretaps in the terror war. Alito, a conservative jurist, would replace Sandra Day O'Connor, who has been a decisive swing vote on abortion, the death penalty and affirmative action. Speaking to reporters in the Rose Garden, alongside Alito, Bush called the judge "eminently qualified" and said, "Sam's got the intellect necessary to bring a lot of class to that court."
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Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the committee's top Democrat, said he would ask Alito how he would demonstrate his independence from the president's interests. "The Supreme Court is the ultimate check and balance in our system. Independence of the courts and its members is crucial to our democracy," Leahy said. The Democrat noted O'Connor's record during her 25 years on the court _ and underscored the importance of Alito fulfilling that responsibility. "Her legacy is one of fairness that I want to see preserved," Leahy said. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said, "The person who fills the O'Connor vacancy will truly tip the balance of the scales of justice in America." Alito, a 15-year member of the federal appeals court in Philadelphia, was chosen by Bush on Oct. 31. "My hope of course is that the Senate bring dignity to the process and give this man a fair hearing and an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor," Bush said before Monday's hearing. He added: "Sam, good luck to you." Ten-minute opening statements by the Judiciary Committee's 18 members were likely to consume much of the opening session, with direct questioning of Alito getting fully under way Tuesday. The hearings were expected to last at least two days. Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Sunday he would wrap up the hearings this week. He has called for a committee vote by Jan. 17. Republican leaders hope for confirmation by the full Senate on Jan. 20, but Leahy would not promise the schedule would hold. Alito was Bush's second choice to replace O'Connor. White House counsel Harriet Miers withdrew from consideration after conservatives questioned her judicial philosophy and qualifications for the Supreme Court. "The challenge for Judge Alito in the course of these hearings is to demonstrate that he will protect the rights and liberties of all Americans and serve as an effective check on government overreaching," Leahy was to say in his opening statement. Alito, 55, previously worked as a federal prosecutor and a lawyer in the Reagan administration. Republicans say there is no reason to delay or filibuster Alito. Senators who have met privately with Alito say he told them that his 1985 written comments maintaining there was no constitutional right to abortion were only part of a job application for the Reagan administration, which opposed abortion. He wrote in a separate legal memo while at the Justice Department that the department should try to chip away at abortion rights rather than mount an all-out assault. "We will ask you: 'Do you still "personally believe very strongly that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion?"' Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York planned to tell Alito in his opening statement. "We will ask: 'Do you view elevation to the Supreme Court, where you will no longer be bound by high court precedent, as the long-sought opportunity to advance the goals of bringing about the eventual overruling of Roe v. Wade, as you stated in 1985?"' Specter, said in an advance copy of his opening statement, "This hearing will give Judge Alito the public forum to address the issue, as he has with senators in private meetings, that his personal views and prior advocacy will not determine his judicial decision." No matter what Alito says, some Democrats will oppose him, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, predicted in his opening statement, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. "I am reluctantly inclined to the view that you and any other nominee of this president for the Supreme Court start with no more than 13 votes in this committee, and only 78 votes in the full Senate with a solid, immovable and unpersuadable block of at least 22 votes against you, no matter what you say or do," the statement said.
Specter, along with several Democrats, also told Alito before the hearing that he would press him on his feelings about presidential power during wartime. The same senators who will question Alito will also hold hearings later this year on whether Bush had the authority to the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on conversations involving suspected terrorists in the United States without getting a court-ordered warrant. Bush contended that his constitutional powers and the prewar resolution gave him that legal authority. One of Alito's Democratic critics, Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, said he has seen tendencies by Alito to defer to the executive branch. "In an era when the White House is abusing power, has authorized torture and is spying on American citizens, I find your support for an all-powerful executive branch and almost unlimited power for government agents to be deeply troubling," Kennedy said in an excerpt from his opening statement.
© 2006 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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