Antiabortion views show in Alito's writings
Detroit Free Press
November 15, 2005
BY JESSE J. HOLLAND
ASSOCIATED PRESS Antiabortion views show in Alito's writings
High court choice is proud of recordWASHINGTON -- Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito wrote in 1985 that he was proud of his Reagan-era work helping the government argue that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion," documents showed Monday. Alito, who was applying in 1985 to become deputy assistant attorney general in the Reagan administration, boasted that he helped "to advance legal positions in which I personally believe very strongly." He stated: "I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government argued that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion." The document was included in 100 pages of material about Alito released by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library on Monday. Abortion will be a key topic in January at Alito's confirmation hearings. He was chosen by President George W. Bush to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who is a crucial swing vote on abortion on the high court. Alito, 55, has told senators in private meetings that he had "great respect" for the precedent set by the 1973 Supreme Court ruling, Roe v. Wade, which affirmed a constitutional right to abortion. Some abortion rights groups have come out against Alito because of his work as a federal appellate judge, including his dissent on a U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down a law requiring women seeking abortions to notify their spouses. Alito's supporters say the judge's statement from 1985 shouldn't be held against him. "For pro-choice extremists and other liberal activists to say that this legal statement by Judge Alito in 1985 somehow disqualifies him from serving as a Supreme Court justice is absurd," said Wendy Long, a lawyer for the conservative Judicial Confirmation Network. She said that Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer "had taken clear public positions to the contrary, and no one argued that those positions should be held against them."
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