Comprehensive Coverage of the Alito Hearings
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Post-Hearing Report on the Nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court
Click here to download the full report. (PDF, 354 KB) Date: 1/19/2006 Hearing Confirms Alito Wrong Choice for America The recently completed confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito confirmed that he is the wrong choice for the Supreme Court and for the country, according to a People For the American Way post-hearing report released today. Date: 1/19/2006 The Reviews Are In Newspapers across the country oppose Alito nomination, urge Senate to stop his nomination to the Supreme Court Date: 1/17/2006 Alito Testimony Confirmed That He Shouldn't Be With the future of the Supreme Court on the line, the confirmation hearings were a chance for America to learn what kind of justice Samuel Alito might be. But he didn’t want to tell us. For three days he refused to answer direct questions, offered evasive answers, and failed to resolve questions about his credibility. Date: 1/12/2006 Judge Samuel Alito: Sharply Repudiated By His Own Colleagues Most federal appellate court cases are decided unanimously. In divided rulings on Judge Alito's court — the Third Circuit — Judge Alito is often an outlier. He has been the most frequent dissenter among all the Third Circuit judges, appointed by both Republicans and Democrats, since he was appointed in 1990. He has the largest number of dissents written (64). In fact, he has written or joined more than 10% of the 659 dissents issued during his period of service. Date: 1/12/2006 Momentum Shifts as Alito's Record Comes Through Despite His Evasive and Misleading Answers Midway through the second day of testimony in the confirmation hearing of Samuel Alito, his continuing refusal to give clear answers to direct questions about his record on core issues of privacy and personal liberty is wearing thin, said People For the American Way President Ralph G. Neas. Date: 1/11/2006 The Disappeared Witness Earlier today Senator Sam Brownback submitted into the record a letter from Cathy Fleming as evidence that Alito is not biased against individual rights in favor of business and government. Fleming, a former colleague of Samuel Alito, was scheduled to testify on his behalf tomorrow. Brownback may not have known that Fleming, who is the president-elect of the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) and served under Alito when he was a New Jersey U.S. Attorney, was pulled from the witness list this week after the NAWL released its rating of Alito: “not qualified.” Date: 1/11/2006 “Open Mind” is Not a Legal Term and Signifies Nothing Judge Samuel Alito repeatedly refused to answer questions about whether he still holds his 1985 legal view that “the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.” Instead, he tried to muddy the waters in his Senate Judiciary Committee hearings by pledging to keep “an open mind,” should he be in a position to reconsider precedent on that right. Date: 1/11/2006 Schumer Questioning 'Masterful' PFAW President Ralph G. Neas released the following statement about Sen. Charles Schumer’s questioning (click here for video) of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito: I have been involved in judicial nominations debates for thirty years, and I have never seen a stronger performance by a senator than we saw from Sen. Schumer today. He was clear, focused on questions of critical importance, and tenacious in seeking answers on behalf of the American people. It was a masterful job." Date: 1/10/2006 Judge Alito: Closed Mind in Employment Discrimination Cases Although Judge Alito has claimed repeatedly during his confirmation hearings that judges must be “open-minded” when evaluating cases that come before them, and has sought to convey that impression of himself, in fact his testimony belies that he is “open-minded.” In particular, Judge Alito today, in responding to questions from Senator Biden regarding Alito’s consistent record against plaintiffs in employment discrimination cases, made it clear that he does not approach such cases with an “open-mind.” To the contrary, when it comes to Title VII employment discrimination cases reaching the appellate courts, Alito presumes that the plaintiff -- the person claiming discrimination -- does not have a strong case. Date: 1/10/2006 Alito on Racial Discrimination An analysis of Brinson v. Vaughn, Riley v. Taylor and United States v. Kithcart Date: 1/10/2006 Alito: CAP and Credibility In today’s hearings, Republican Senators have tried to dismiss concerns raised by Samuel Alito’s membership in the reactionary Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP). His supporters offered new explanations for why Alito joined the group, but today’s hearings only raised more questions. CAP was notorious for its hostility to the increasing gender and racial diversification of Princeton, and it strains credulity for Alito to claim that he was not familiar with its controversial positions. Date: 1/10/2006 Alito Fails to Meet Burden on First Day of Testimony Samuel Alito entered his confirmation hearings with the burden of repudiating his record of extremism on privacy, civil rights, presidential power, and federalism. Instead, said People For the American Way President Ralph G Neas, Alito evaded questions, tried to distance himself from his positions without disavowing them, and reinforced concerns raised about his record. Date: 1/10/2006 Alito and the White House Codebook Our January 5 memo, “Cracking the White House Codebook: Separating Spin from Reality in the Alito Hearings,” highlighted some of the types of nominee “spinning” that senators, media, and the public should expect to hear during the Alito confirmation hearing – identifying the strategy is a way to get beyond it to the answers Americans need about this nominee and his record. Here’s a brief update from the opening statements and first morning of questioning. Date: 1/10/2006 Alito Hearing: The Truth is in the Numbers In his opening statement, Samuel Alito began attempting to distance himself from any views he expressed before 1990: “When I became a judge, I stopped being a practicing attorney, and that was a big change in role. The role of a practicing attorney is to achieve a desirable result for the client in the particular case at hand. But a judge can't think that way. A judge can't have any agenda.” [Opening Statement, 1/9/06] In fact, Alito’s 1985 job application is essentially a blueprint for his career on the bench; there is not a single position expressed in those pages that he later rejected in a case that came before him. But let’s, for a moment, take him at his word and ignore all that. What can we learn from Alito’s 15 year record as a judge? Date: 1/10/2006 Shifting Explanations from Alito Supporters One of the documents released late last year from the National Archives was a 1985 memo from Samuel Alito, seeking a high level promotion in the Reagan Justice Department, in which he touted his political bona fides to his right-wing higher-ups. Among the evidence he offered was “I am…a member of the Concerned Alumni of Princeton, a conservative alumni group. Date: 1/9/2006 |