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NYT Praises Prosecutor Alito
The New York Times might not be happy about the nomination of conservative Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, but it has high praise for Alito as a prosecutor. Alito served as United States attorney for New Jersey from 1987 to 1990, and the Times reports that "the hallmarks of his stewardship of the office” were "modesty, a straightforward style, common sense and, in baseball jargon, good pitch selection.” Soon after his appointment by President Reagan, Alito took the unusual step of appointing himself as the prosecutor in a case involving the shooting of an FBI agent. "I thought it was courageous,” Lawrence S. Lustberg, the defense lawyer in the case, told the Times. "Here he was, a guy who was an appellate lawyer. But he understood he was in charge of an office full of trial lawyers.”
Story Continues Below Alito won a conviction in the case, and the defendant was sentenced to 23 years in prison. The Times quoted several prosecutors and lawyers who spoke about Alito’s work as prosecutor. Kevin McNulty, who was hired as an assistant United States attorney by Alito, said: "Alito was a government guy, and you never got the feeling he was out there pursuing his ambitions.” Robert A. Mintz, another lawyer Alito hired, disclosed: "Sam was much more reflective” than most prosecutors in the United States attorney’s office, "and someone who has always reveled in the complex nuances of the law rather than the drama of the courtroom.” David A. Ruhnke, a lawyer who often served as Alito’s adversary, said the prosecutor lacked the "cop mentality” of many career prosecutors. "He was never a cheerleader for law enforcement.”
Another lawyer who tangled with Alito, Ronald Kuby, said: "As a prosecutor he was nonideological. He tacked toward the conservative side, because people who go into federal law enforcement tend to be on the right side of the line.”
Editor's note:
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