US News
Kennedy concerned over Alito's views on executive power (Roundup)
By DPA
Jan 9, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Washington - Opposition Democrats attacked conservative Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito as his Senate confirmation hearings began Monday, expressing concern about views on presidential authority and women's rights.

Senator Edward Kennedy, a prominent Democrat, said he was troubled by Alito's support for broad executive powers for the White House.

The issue has gained significance since a press report last month forced President George W. Bush to acknowledge a secret domestic spying programme, launched in the name of fighting terrorism. Bush has vowed to continue the programme.

Alito, 55, is Bush's pick to replace Sandra Day O'Connor, who often cast a centrist swing vote on contentious social issues such as abortion.

Senator Joseph Biden, a Democrat, cited data showing that O'Connor was the deciding vote on more than three-quarters of all 5-4 decisions of the nine-member court.

Arlen Specter, head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said 'widespread concern' about Alito's stand on abortion is 'perhaps the dominant issue' in the hearings by his panel - in part because of his 1985 statement that the U.S. constitution provides no right to an abortion.

Alito, in his opening remarks, indicated that the 1985 remarks do not represent his thinking as a judge. When he was appointed to the federal bench in 1990, his behaviour changed, Alito stated.

'The role of a practicing attorney is to achieve a desirable result for the client in the particular case at hand,' he said. 'But a judge can't think that way. A judge can't have any agenda, a judge can't have any preferred outcome in any particular case and a judge certainly doesn't have a client.'

Leading up to the first day of the hearings, Democrats have urged Alito to answer their questions and they pursued this theme in their opening statements.

They had accused John Roberts, who was appointed and confirmed last year to head the court, of not answering their questions on key issues, especially abortion.

On the uncovered surveillance programme, Kennedy said he believes the Supreme Court will ultimately rule on the issue and indicated that he does not think Alito should be on the bench for a decision.

'Under the president's spying programme, there are no checks and balances,' Kennedy said during his opening remarks. 'There is no outside review of the legality of this brazen infringement on the civil rights and liberties of the American people.'

'I'm gravely concerned by Judge Alito's clear record of support for vast presidential authority unchecked by the other two branches of government.'

Alito sought to counter the impression that he would favour presidential power.

'There is nothing that is more important for our republic than the rule of law,' he said. 'No person in this country, no matter how high or powerful, is above the law, and no person in this country is beneath the law.'

Specter, a political moderate, urged fellow senators to give Alito a fair hearing.

'That applies to a few of the senators on my side of the aisle, but many more among the Democrats,' he told reporters. 'A number of the opening statements by the Democrats sounded more like indictments than opening statements.'

Supporters and opponents of the nominee, with stickers and buttons that made their views known, lined up outside the hearing room in hopes of getting a seat at the proceedings.

Democrats also criticized Bush throughout the first day of hearings for not replacing O'Connor with another woman or a member of a minority.

'It's also important to note that you're slated to replace the first woman ever nominated to the Supreme Court,' Biden told Alito. 'We can pretend that's not the fact but it is. And through no fault of your own, we're cutting the number of women in half on the court.'

Some women's groups have attacked Alito, and Biden said he would take a close look on the nominee's views on women's issues.

Bush, who had breakfast with the nominee Monday, praised Alito ahead of the hearings.

'Sam Alito is eminently qualified to be a member of the bench,' Bush said after meeting with the nominee at the White House. 'He's got a judicial temperament necessary to make sure that the court is a body that interprets the law and doesn't try to write the law.'