Centrist senators meet over Alito nomination

updated 1:11 p.m. ET Nov. 3, 2005

WASHINGTON - A group of centists who averted Senate gridlock earlier this year over President Bush’s judicial selections struggled Thursday to find consensus on any “extraordinary circumstances” exist that would merit a Democratic filibuster of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.

Two Republican members of the so-called “Group of 14” already had said that they do not consider any questions about Alito’s elevation from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to be serious enough to fit the kind of scenario the group has said would warrant such delaying tactics.

After the group’s first meeting on Alito, Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., told reporters there was “a sense that we’re still together and keeping this a civil and orderly process at this point.”

He said the Gang of 14 “is not going to blow up.”

The unity of the group’s seven Republicans and seven Democrats halted a politically charged showdown earlier this year over Bush’s conservative lower court judgeship choices.

But two senators — Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. and Mike DeWine, R-Ohio — already have said they will join with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to eliminate the filibuster for judges if Democrats launch this delaying tactic simply because of Alito’s conservative record.

The White House nominated Alito as a replacement for retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, an important swing vote on issues like abortion and affirmative action. Alito is Bush’s second pick for the O’Connor seat, following the failure of White House counsel Harriet Miers to garner support from conservatives who were worried about her judicial philosophy and lack of experience as a judge.

‘A lot to talk about'
Other senators in the group, which decided earlier in the year to support filibusters only in such dire circumstances, said they argued that it is too early to make a decision this time around, given that Alito is only in his first week as the nominee.

“Everybody thinks it is too early to decide whether there are ‘extraordinary circumstances,”’ said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn. “There’s a lot to read ... a lot to talk about.”

Alito, 55, has served for 15 years on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Philadelphia after being a government lawyer and U.S. attorney, and has a clear conservative paper trail on the bench.

But some people are looking at a young Alito to try to find indicators of how he’d vote on certain issues.

For example, Alito joined the Army reserves while he was a college student because his draft lottery number made it likely he would be taken for the Vietnam War, his college roommates said.

Also, 30 years before the Supreme Court decriminalized gay sex, Alito declared on behalf of his group of fellow Princeton University students that “no private sexual act between consenting adults should be forbidden.”

Alito, back in 1971, also called for an end to discrimination against homosexuals in hiring.

“If these are his views today — and there is no indication they are not — it’s a hopeful sign that may provide some insight into his philosophy,” said David Smith, the policy vice president of the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates gay rights.

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