Memo hints at anti-abortion effort
Detroit News
Thursday, December 01, 2005
By David Espo
Associated Press Memo hints at anti-abortion effort
In a 1985 memo, Supreme Court nominee Alito pushed strategies to 'mitigate effects' of landmark abortion law.WASHINGTON -- As a young government lawyer opposed to abortion rights, Samuel Alito argued for a legal strategy of chipping away at the landmark Supreme Court ruling rather than mounting an all-out assault likely to inflict a defeat on the Reagan administration, according to documents released Wednesday. "No one seriously believes that the court is about to overrule Roe v. Wade," the current Supreme Court nominee wrote in an internal Justice Department memo on May 30, 1985. Referring to a high court decision to review two abortion-related cases at the time, he asked, "What can be made of this opportunity to advance the goals of bringing about the eventual overruling ... and in the meantime, of mitigating its effects." The memo was among several hundred pages of documents dating from Alito's 1981-87 tenure in the Justice Department.. Alito wrote his 1985 memo at a time the Supreme Court had agreed to hear appeals on two state laws restricting abortion rights. The justices "may be signaling an inclination to cut back," he said in the memo to the solicitor general. He noted that the court had earlier rejected administration arguments in another case, reaffirming the 1973 abortion rights ruling in the process. "It is almost incredible that the court struck down an ordinance requiring the 'humane and sanitary' disposal of aborted fetuses, he wrote, "a provision designed 'to preclude the mindless dumping of aborted fetuses into garbage piles.' " He recommended the Justice Department weigh in on the new cases by making it clear it opposed the 1973 abortion ruling. At the same time, he argued that his approach was "free of the disadvantages that would accompany a major effort to overturn Roe. When the court hands down its decision and Roe is not overruled, the decision will not be portrayed as a stinging rebuke." The memo was contained in Justice Department records that had been turned over to the Archives in 1999 by the Clinton administration.
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