Bush’s high court pick likely in for a fight

More restrictive on abortion than O’Connor
The jurist from New Jersey favors more restrictions on abortion rights than either the Supreme Court has allowed or O’Connor has supported, based on a 1992 case in which he supported spousal notification.

Bush called for confirmation by year’s end, but Senate leaders said the vote may wait until next year.

Wasting no time, Alito went to the Capitol shortly after the announcement to meet with lawmakers. Accompanied by two of his children and Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist, Alito paused first to pay his respects at the coffin of the late civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks in the Capitol rotunda.

Specter said he would not ask Alito directly about whether he would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion rights ruling.

“There is a lot more to do with a woman’s right to choose than how you feel about it personally,” he said. Specter cited adherence to legal precedent in view of a series of rulings over 30 years upholding abortion rights.

With no sign of irony, Republicans demanded that Alito get a vote in the Senate — something they denied Miers.

“Let’s give Judge Alito a fair up or down vote, not left or right,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota.

Upheld promise to conservatives
Republicans who frowned upon Miers said Alito’s selection was in keeping with Bush’s promise to conservatives who helped elect him twice. “What I’ve been hoping for is we would get nominees with a paper trail so we can know their views,” said Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., a potential presidential candidate courting conservative voters.

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson called the pick “a grand-slam home run.” Gary Bauer, a conservative activist who joined allies on the right to challenge Miers nomination, said, “Now with Judge Alito the battle is where it belongs; it’s a battle against the president’s avowed political enemies.”

Alito, who was nominated to the appeals court by Bush’s father, signaled his alliance with Bauer and other conservatives by speaking of the “limited role the courts play in our constitutional system.”

Abortion-rights activists denounced the pick. “Now, the gauntlet has been, I think, thrown down,” said Kate Michelman, past president of NARAL-Pro-Choice American.

“I believe this nomination is aimed at appeasing the most right-wing elements of the president’s political base,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

Alito considered alongside Miers
Miers bowed out last Thursday after three weeks of bruising criticism from members of Bush’s own party who argued that the Texas lawyer and loyal Bush confidant had thin credentials and no proven record as a judicial conservative.

Bush had a lengthy interview with Alito after O’Connor announced her retirement in July. White House officials said he was Bush’s favorite among the candidates who were judges, but loyalist Miers won out.

Bush called Alito on Friday. White House chief of staff Andy Card talked on the phone with Alito two or three times on Thursday and Friday. Bush formally offered Alito the job when the two met in the Oval Office at 7 a.m. ET Monday, nearly an hour after the news of his choice leaked out.

The White House immediately reached out to its conservative network to prepare for a fight with Democrats. Steve Schmidt, who was the White House spokesman on the Roberts nomination, told supporters on a conference call that they are already considering themselves 22 votes down in the Senate — the 22 Democrats who voted against Roberts.

In the early 1990s, Alito was the lone dissenter in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a case in which the 3rd Circuit struck down a Pennsylvania law that included a provision requiring women seeking abortions to notify their spouses.

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