Washington – Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito heads into the first vote of his candidacy with victory assured today in a Senate committee, but Democratic opponents are still working to dampen his support in the full Senate.
The GOP-controlled Judiciary Committee is expected to advance the nomination of President Bush’s pick to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Con nor on the strength of its 10 Republican senators. There are eight Democrats on the panel.
All 10 Republicans – including chairman Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the panel’s lone GOP abortion-rights supporter – announced their support soon after Alito finished his confirmation hearings this month. That guarantees he’ll have a positive recommendation from the panel when the Senate begins final debate Wednesday.
“You don’t have to worry about him in the committee,” Bush said Monday at Kansas State University. He called Alito “a very, very smart, capable man. When you talk to Sam Alito, you think, ‘Smart judge.”‘
Democrats are worried about how he will rule if confirmed.
Half the committee’s eight Democrats – Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Dianne Feinstein of California – have announced opposition to his nomination. Many expect the others – Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold, both of Wisconsin, Joe Biden of Delaware and Charles Schumer of New York – to join them.
In previous judicial battles, a 10-8 party-line vote would be the first sign of the possibility of a Democratic-led filibuster. But Democrats are not expected to try one with Alito, a former federal prosecutor and lawyer for the Reagan administration.
After the committee votes, Alito’s nomination goes to the full Senate for a final vote later this week. Republicans want Alito in place before Bush gives his State of the Union address Jan. 31.
Democrats are already considering whether to use Alito as a 2006 and 2008 campaign issue.
“If he issues rulings as Sandra Day O’Connor did, it will be no issue at all,” Durbin told “Fox News Sunday.” “But if he goes to the court and comes forward with rulings such as we’ve seen from Justices Scalia and Thomas time and again, it will be an issue.”
