Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) points to Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito as ranking committee Democrat Pat Leahy (L) looks on during the Supreme Court nomination hearing of Alito on Capitol Hill in Washington January 11, 2006. A top Senate Democrat told Alito on Wednesday that he remained concerned that Alito could be the deciding vote to reverse the 1973 decision that legalized abortion. At right is committee ranking Democrat Pat Leahy. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito answers a question on the third day of his confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2006. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
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Questioning intensified on third day of hearings for Judge Samuel Alito with more questions on abortion and inquiries into a controversial college group the Supreme Court Nominee listed in a job application for a U.S. attorney position in the 1980s.
On abortion, Alito would not commit to saying that the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that nationalized abortion should be considered “settled law.” Regarding the Concerned Alumni of Princeton, he said he had no recollection of joining the group and said he deplored statements about the group read to him by the Senators questioning him.
When Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) broached the issue about the right to an abortion as being “settled law,” Alito would not use the same terms that Chief Justice John Roberts had used in his August confirmation hearings.
"It is a precedent that has now been on the books for several decades," Alito said. "It has been challenged. It has been reaffirmed. But it is an issue that is involved in litigation now at all levels."
Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) also queried Alito on whether the Roe decision was “well-settled in court.”
Alito replied by saying that “I think that depends on what one means by the term ‘well-settled.’” He explained the importance of a judge looking at all sides of a case.
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When pressed some more by Senator Feinstein about why he was more responsive with other issues and not the issue of abortion, Alito said that he didn’t think it was appropriate to speak about issues that could “realistically come up” before the Supreme Court.
Senators also questioned Alito about his affiliation with a group known as the Concerned Alumni of Princeton, which is considered controversial because of its views oppose Princeton University’s efforts to increase diversity by including more women and minorities in the student body. The group opposed such measures partly because they said that students who were not qualified would be allowed to become part of the university.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and several other Democrat senators wanted to know why Alito, a Princeton graduate, would list a “radical” group such as CAP as a reference in a job application for an attorney’s position within the Reagan administration.
Alito said he had no recollection of the group and would not have listed it in his application if he had known the group’s views on minorities and women.
“I deplore those statements,” he said. “I would never be a member of an organization that took those positions.”
Sen. Durbin quoted a former employee of Alito when he was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey in the 80s as being “flabbergasted” by Alito’s listing of CAP as a reference, according to the words she spoke in the nation Magazine.
Alito said that Diane Weeks, the employee who made the comments, was “one of many women whom I hired when I was U.S. attorney.”
“And I think that illustrates my attitude toward equality for women,” he said.
In an interview with the Washington Post on Wednesday, Weeks said she was “flabbergasted” because “from my personal experience with Sam, he does not discriminate against women, minorities or anyone else. He is a merit-based thinker. That's who he is. I cannot understand for the life of me why he would have even associated himself with Concerned Alumni of Princeton."
Jan LaRue, Chief Counsel for Concerned Women for America, which opposes abortion and has supported the Alito nomination, chided Sen. Kennedy for his aggressiveness in pursuing the CAP issue. She noted that earlier reports state that Alito was not tied to CAP in a significant way.
“Kennedy repeatedly asked Judge Alito whether he had read specific articles about CAP and he said he hadn’t,” she said.
"Kennedy is sinking to a new low trying to defame Alito, distort his record and deceive the public. It’s disgusting,” LaRue added.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg news agency reports that a search of papers donated by CAP to the Library of Congress by the group's co-founder gave no evidence that Alito attended any meetings, wrote articles or letters on behalf of the group.
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