Alito extols ‘rule of law’ at confirmation hearing

updated 8:23 p.m. ET Jan. 9, 2006

WASHINGTON - Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito told senators Monday that good judges don’t have an agenda, don’t look for partisan outcomes and “always do what the law requires” as the Senate opened hearings on President Bush’s choice for the high court.

“A judge can’t have any agenda. A judge can’t have a preferred outcome in any particular case,” Alito told the Judiciary Committee in a brief statement in which he made a distinction between judges and attorneys working for clients.

Alito, a conservative jurist on the federal appeals court, would replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who has been a decisive swing vote on abortion, affirmative action and death penalty cases.

After listening to opening statements from the 18 members of the committee, Alito got his chance to speak and described his Italian immigrant father’s background, his mother’s work experience and his own academic career. He told the panel about his legal philosophy.

“The role of a practicing attorney is to achieve a desirable result for the client in the particular case at hand,” Alito said. “But a judge can’t think that way. A judge can’t have any agenda, a judge can’t have any preferred outcome in any particular case and a judge certainly doesn’t have a client.”

In his 11-minute statement, the judge gave no indication about how he might respond to the tough questions Democrats have promised on the divisive issues of executive power, abortion and the privacy rights.

Alito said his solemn obligation is to the rule of law and that a judge must do what the law requires.

“No person in this country, no matter how high or powerful, is above the law, and no person in this country is beneath the law,” he said.

Grilling starts in earnest Tuesday
President Bush’s choice to become the nation’s 110th Supreme Court justice faces the first questioning on Tuesday, and Democrats promised Alito tough questions on executive power, privacy rights and abortion.

Several Democrats expressed misgivings about Alito’s 15 years of decisions and opinions as an appellate judge and his writings during his tenure as a lawyer in the Reagan Justice Department.

Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., focused on the larger debate over interpretation of the Constitution, saying that there is a "genuine struggle" over key issues in the document, thus the questioning was right to be extensive and probing.

According to Biden, the hearings come in the middle of "the most significant national debate in modern Constitutional history," he said, arguing that Americans are "entitled to know" what Alito thinks.

The hearings opened amid a growing debate over executive authority and Bush’s secret decision to order the National Security Agency to wiretap Americans in the terror war.

Kennedy: Troubling questions
“Your record raises troubling questions about whether you appreciate the checks and balances in our Constitution — the careful efforts of our Founding Fathers to protect us from a government or a president determined to seize too much power over our lives,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

“In an era when the White House is abusing power, is excusing and authorizing torture and is spying on American citizens, I find Judge Alito’s support for an all-powerful executive branch to be genuinely troubling,” said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

Said Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis.: “We need judges who see themselves as custodians of the rights and freedoms that the Constitution guarantees, even when the president of the United States is telling the country that he should be able to decide unilaterally how far those freedoms go.”

'A lot of class'
Republican Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio offered a counterpoint. “Your modest approach to judging seems to bode well for our democracy,” he said.

The hearings come just months after the Senate confirmed John Roberts as chief justice, and Republicans frequently cited the standard set by Roberts in his hearings for the high court.

Republicans also defended Alito, the president’s pick to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, describing him as a fair-minded and brilliant jurist who would be a welcome addition to the court.

“Sam’s got the intellect necessary to bring a lot of class to that court,” said Bush in a good-luck sendoff for Alito at the White House.

Alito, said Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, “has a reputation for being an exceptional and honest judge devoted to the rule of law, and a man of integrity.”

Alito, 55, introduced members of his family — including his wife Martha, sister Rosemary and his son and daughter — and then sat and listened to the opening statements from the first of the committee’s 18 members. Only after their remarks would the nominee get a chance to make his opening statement.

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