The jury is still out. (Sorry, that pun slipped in there.)
There's his record:
In one case, Alito said it was not an "undue burden" for a married woman seeking an abortion to have to notify her husband, a position that the Supreme Court refuted.
But in other abortion-related cases, he voted to strike down a Pennsylvania law that imposed strict new requirements on poor women seeking federally funded abortions, ruled that a New Jersey ban on a late-term abortion procedure was unconstitutional, and concurred in an opinion that found that a fetus has no constitutional rights.
Somewhat mixed. However, I'd tend to agree with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who said Alito's track record "shows that he has indeed put his personal views on abortion aside."
Why do I tend to agree with that position? Consider what none of these mainstream news stories have said yet...but that I heard on NPR this morning and Googled up just now:
Katherine (Kate) Pringle is a partner in a New York law firm. She is also a progressive Democrat who was heavily involved in John Kerry's presidential campaign. And after she graduated from law school in 1993, she spent a year working as a law clerk to Third Circuit Judge Samuel Alito, Jr.
In light of this morning's nomination of Alito to the Supreme Court, I called Pringle to get her take. The short answer: she is very pleased with the nomination. More below.
I asked Pringle to describe what kind of judge Alito is. She said that Alito is "very thoughtful, very careful, very respectful of Supreme Court precedent. He has a strong conservative intellectual approach to things, but he is respectful, honest, and straightforward." She emphasized that Alito is very respectful of the litigants in the case before the court, and also of the opinions of his colleagues - he always looks for common ground and for opportunities to build consensus. She added that he is "not out there to accomplish a specific agenda," and noted his respect for "the Supreme Court as an institution." Incidentally, Alito's "respect for litigants" was echoed in this NPR story that interviewed Clark Lombardi, also a former Alito clerk (I do not know whether Lombardi self-identifies as a liberal or a conservative). Lombardi emphasized that Alito was very aware of the "human side" of cases, and said that Alito never treated litigants as pawns in a grand ideological chess game.
I wondered what Pringle meant by a "strong conservative intellectual approach." She elaborated: "he cares a lot about the words of the statute or constitutional provision or contract" involved in the case. "He starts first and foremost with the words." Pringle added that Alito is "not interested in being expansive with judicial opinions. He decides the specific issue in front of him, and is not inclined to go beyond that."
(Sorry for the long quote, but I felt it was germane.)
Sandra O'Connor was much the same in her narrow opinions; and a self-described liberal who thinks Alito is a good choice is a vote in the right direction for me. I don't think conservatives, even those who are personally/politically against things liberals are for, are bad choices. If they can set aside ideology and personal views and rule to the Constitution, that is all I desire. I'm still not fully sold on Alito, but I won't bash him simply because he's not personally pro-choice. Look at the rulings...he struck down a ban on late-term abortion! That's not the mark of an anti-Roe ideologue. Heck, I don't even agree with "partial birth" abortion, so I'm somewhat surprised he'd rule that way.
Or maybe not...if he, as Pringle and others have said, rules on a very narrow scope, the ruling was likely one that was on a very specific point.
At any rate, his record may not be highly friendly in the pro-choice area, but it's not the mark of an activist seeking to overturn Roe, either.
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