The Alito Nomination

Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., currently serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, has been nicknamed “Scalito,” or “little Scalia,” by some lawyers.  Bush’s second pick for the Supreme Court seat to be vacated by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is meant to please his right-wing base in the GOP, but how would Alito tip the scales?  We’ve compiled some of his rulings and articles that may indicate how he would interpret the law from the high court bench.  If you spot something you think we should add, let us know at .

HEARINGS

Schedule | The schedule for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito’s confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee:

BIOGRAPHICAL INFO

Official White House Bio

DOCUMENTS

National Archives: Records Pertaining to Judge Samuel Alito Jr.

Response to a Senate Judiciary Committee Questionnaire
Nov. 30 2005 | Document (PDF), (Appendix1, Appendix2, Appendix3, Appendix4)

Personal Statement on Abortion
Nov. 15, 1985 | From FindLaw: “Pres. Bush’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Judge Samuel Alito, Jr., wrote in his ‘Personal Qualifications Statement’ when applying to be an Assistant Attorney General under Pres. Ronald Reagan that “I am and always have been a conservative” and that he was “particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government has argued in the Supreme Court that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed, and that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.” more

Memos: Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, 1985
May 30, 1985 | Released on Nov. 30, 2005:Memorandum concerning Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, No. 84-495 and Diamond v. Charles, No. 84-1379 from Samuel A. Alito to the Solicitor General

June 3, 1985| Released on Nov. 30, 2005: Memorandum to Samuel A. Alito, Charles J. Cooper, Kenneth Cribb, Stephen Galebach, Carolyn Kuhl, William B. Reynolds and Richard Willard from Charles Fried regarding Samuel Alito’s recommendation in the abortion cases.

Memos: Marsh v. Flint Board of Education, 1985
Aug. 1, 1985 |Buck-slips and hand-written note by Alito. Also includes a printed copy of Supreme Court Petition of Writ of Certiorari concerning Marsh v. Board of Education of the City of Flint

Memos: Memphis Police v. Garner, 1984
May 24, 1984 | Memorandum concerning Tennessee & Memphis Police Department v. Garner from Brian K. Landsberg to William Bradford Reynolds.

May 18, 1984 |Memorandum concerning Memphis Department v. Garner, Nos. 83-1035, 83-1070 from Samuel A. Alito to the Solicitor General

COURT DECISIONS

Shore Regional High School Board of Education v. P.S., on Behalf of P.S.
Aug. 20, 2004 | Alito rules in favor of a complaint brought under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act by a boy seeking legal relief from bullying by classmates.

The Pitt News v. Pappert
Jan. 22, 2004 | A First Amendment case dealing with a law banning alcoholic beverage ads in media affiliated with educational institutions.

Ronald A. Williams v. Price, Fisher
Sept. 9, 2003 | Majority opinion granting federal court review to an African American who could not get state courts to hear his claim of racial bias on the part of a juror in his trial.

Saxe v. State College Area School District
Feb. 14, 2001 | A First Amendment and anti-harassment case.

ACLU v. Schundler
Aug. 6, 1998 | Holds that holiday display in Jersey City, N.J. that included a creche and menorah and secular symbols did not violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

Sheridan v. Dupont
May 4, 1995 | Dissents, argues that the Third Circuit had made it too easy for discrimination complaints to reach a jury trial.

Planned Parenthood v. Casey
1991 | Dissenting opinion concerning “spousal notification” and abortion.
June 29, 1992 | Dissenting opinion referenced in U.S. Supreme Court ruling

RELATED SITES

Alito: FindLaw
Profile as well as in-depth case analysis and linked opinions.

KEY TOPICS

PRESIDENTIAL POWER

Focus of Hearings Quickly Turns to Limits of Presidential Power
Jan. 10, 2006 | “The opinion is more than 50 years old, and it is not even binding precedent. But just minutes into the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., it took center stage and seemed to lay the groundwork for the questions he will face concerning his views on the limits of presidential power.” more

Alito Once Made Case For Presidential Power
By Christopher Lee for the Washington Post: “As a young Justice Department lawyer, Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. tried to help tip the balance of power between Congress and the White House a little more in favor of the executive branch.” more

George W. Bush, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Use and Abuse of Presidential Signing
By Phillip J. Cooper for Presidential Studies Quarterly. This article by Cooper is frequently cited by journalists writing about the impact of Alito’s 1986 memo and his interperetation of presidential power. Presidential Studies Quarterly, Volume 35 Page 515 - September 2005 more

ABORTION

Alito Urged Government to Challenge Roe v. Wade
Nov. 30, 1985 | Fred Barbash of The Washington Post reported: “Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. was an architect of the Reagan administration’s failed 1985 attempt to have the high court consider overruling Roe v. Wade, according to a memo from the period released today.” more

Alito Distances Himself From Views on Abortion in ‘85 Letter
Nov.16, 2005 | Charles Babington and Charles Russakof of The Washington Post reported: “Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. sought to distance himself yesterday from staunchly conservative views he expressed 20 years ago, but some liberals and conservatives said they see the comments as the best indication yet of judicial philosophies he would bring to the bench. One liberal group said it will use the remarks in ads opposing Alito’s confirmation.” more

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

Judge Alito and the Death Penalty (pdf)
By Goodwin Liu, law professor at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall, and Lynsay Skiba.  (Short version avaiable: “Life and Death and Samuel Alito,” L.A. TIMES, Nov. 27, 2005, at M5)

FIRST AMENDMENT

How Judge Alito Applied the First Amendment on Campus: His Important Decision On a Public School’s Anti-Harassment Policy
By Julie Hilden for FindLaw: “President Bush’s current Supreme Court nominee, Judge Samuel Alito, has so far faced intense scrutiny regarding what his views on Roe v. Wade may be. But what are his views in other types of constitutional law cases? A decision Judge Alito authored in 2001, for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, is telling both as to his temperament, and his take on the First Amendment. “ more

RELIGION

For Alito: The More Religion, The Better
Nov. 17, 2005| Audio - NPR: All Things Considered by Barbara Bradley Hagerty
“As Judge Samuel Alito preps for his Senate confirmation hearing, every word that the Supreme Court nominee has ever written has come under a microscope, including his judicial opinions about the relationship between church and state. One theme does emerge from Alito’s writings: the more religion, the better.” listen

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MORE ARTICLES ON THE WEB

Alito Defended Wiretap Protections in ‘85 Memo
Dec. 23, 2005 | The Associated Press reported for The New York Times: “Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito defended the right of government officials to order domestic wiretaps when he worked for the Reagan Justice Department, documents released Friday show.” more

Alito’s Policy on Recusals is Questioned
Dec. 6, 2005 | Michael Kranish of The Boston Globe reported: “In 1987, Samuel A. Alito Jr., then the US attorney for the district of New Jersey, signed a bank fraud indictment of a New Jersey man named Larry Kopp. Later, when Alito became a federal appeals judge, he put the Kopp case on his ‘’standing recusal” list, seeking to uphold his promise that he would disqualify himself from any case that he had supervised as US attorney.”

Alito’s Record Shows Long History of Conservatism
Dec. 1, 2005 | Stephen Henderson and Howard Mintz of Knight Ridder Newspapers report: “During his 15 years on the federal bench, Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito has worked quietly but resolutely to weave a conservative legal agenda into the fabric of the nation’s laws.” more

Alito Urged Government to Challenge Roe v. Wade
Nov. 30, 1985 | Fred Barbash of The Washington Post reported: “Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. was an architect of the Reagan administration’s failed 1985 attempt to have the high court consider overruling Roe v. Wade, according to a memo from the period released today.” more

Alito Distances Himself From Views on Abortion in ‘85 Letter
Nov.16, 2005 | Charles Babington and Charles Russakof of The Washington Post reported: “Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. sought to distance himself yesterday from staunchly conservative views he expressed 20 years ago, but some liberals and conservatives said they see the comments as the best indication yet of judicial philosophies he would bring to the bench. One liberal group said it will use the remarks in ads opposing Alito’s confirmation.” more

Decisions Reveal Alito’s Views on Hot-Button Issues
Nov. 2, 2005 | Adam Liptak of The New York Times writes: “One distinct theme emerges from an examination of 15 cases decided by Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. involving abortion: his thinking is shaped by a traditional concept of marriage....” more

Nomination to Please GOP, but Not the Dems
Oct. 31, 2005 | Christine Hauser and David D. Kirkpatrick of The New York Times report: “President Bush nominated Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., who currently serves on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, to the Supreme Court today, four days after his previous choice withdrew her nomination.” more