抖阴ap

Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman criticized Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar on Friday for his reluctance to endorse Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, saying Salazar was violating his promise to give Alito fair consideration.

“When he first talked about this, before John Roberts was nominated, he said he had three basic tests – fairness, impartiality and a proven record of upholding the law. Anybody that looks at those three tests can say Sam Alito meets all three of them, and meets them with flying colors,” Mehlman said.

Salazar said his meeting Thursday with President Bush’s Supreme Court nominee left him “very concerned” that Alito might disturb the balance on the court.

Salazar, a member of the bipartisan “Gang of 14,” which drew up compromise guidelines on whether Democrats would filibuster any of Bush’s judicial nominees, said he has not decided how he will vote on Alito’s nomination. He also said he has not decided whether his concerns about Alito are serious enough to warrant a filibuster.

“It seemed to me he wants to move the country back to the pre-Warren Court days,” said Salazar, the only Democratic Hispanic senator, referring to the court that ended public school segregation and established the election principle of one-man, one-vote.

Mehlman said Salazar argued in 1999 that he was against quotas, then turned around and criticized the president’s nominee for holding the same opinion.

“Now that he’s in the United States Senate, makes one think that he is perhaps paying more attention to what the special-interest groups think than what the people of Colorado think,” Mehlman said.