Alito, Jr., Samuel Anthony

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Alito, Jr., Samuel Anthony

On October 31, 2005, United States Court of Appeals Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. was nominated to a seat on the U.S. SUPREME COURT. His nomination followed the withdrawal of former nominee Harriet E. Miers and promised a battle in an increasingly contentious and partisan Senate.

Alito was born on April 1, 1950 in Trenton New Jersey. His father had emigrated from Italy as a boy and become a high school teacher before changing careers in the 1950s to work as the research director of a nonpartisan agency that analyzed legislation for state legislators. His mother was an elementary school principal. Alito excelled as a student, deciding on a legal career after discovering a special affinity for in-depth research and finely-honed argument on the high school debate team. He graduated as valedictorian of his class and headed off to Princeton University in 1968.

After receiving his undergraduate degree in 1972, Alito pursued a law degree at Yale Law School (1975). There, he quickly became known as a traditionalist with a quick intellect. It was a reputation that he was to carry with him throughout his working life. In 1976, Alito was hired as a law clerk by Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Leonard I. Garth (who eventually became a colleague when Alito was named to the same bench). After clerking for Garth, Alito spent 1977 to 1981 as an assistant U.S. attorney in New Jersey. He then went to Washington, DC to work for the Department of Justice, first as an assistant to the solicitor general from 1981 to 1985 and then as a deputy assistant attorney general from 1985 to 1987. In the former position, he argued several cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. 1987 saw Alito's return to New Jersey as United States attorney, where he handled cases from organized crime to child pornography.

Alito took a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 1990. While his time there undisputedly marked him as a solidly conservative jurist, it is also showed a man unwilling to parade his political views in public. He was widely respected by Democrats and Republicans alike, and few saw him as either rigid or an ideologue. Still, Alito's controversial opinions included his lone dissent in a 1991 case that felled a Pennsylvania law requiring married women seeking abortions to inform their husbands and his 1998 holding that a holiday display that included secular symbols along with religious ones did not violate the First Amend-ment. On the other hand, Alito voted with the majority to find a ban on late-term abortions unconstitutional where there was no exception considering the health of the mother. These, and the broad array of other published opinions stemming from 15 years on the bench, were to come under intense scrutiny when Alito was nominated to replace retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in October of 2005.

Alito's nomination came in the wake of the withdrawal of previous nominee Harriet E. Miers. It also came at a time when President George W. Bush was lagging in the polls and there was increasing acrimony between parties in the Senate. The situation was further sharpened by O'Connor's pivotal role as a centrist justice on a fairly divided Court, thus making the stakes particularly high for both parties in finding a suitable replacement. In short, there was little doubt that Alito's confirmation hearings were destined to be difficult and time-consuming, with conservative and liberal agendas likely to take precedence.

As expected the ideological battle between the parties caused great friction and talk of filibustering Alito's nomination. Despite Democratic attempts to block a vote on the nomination by filibustering, a Senate closure motion ended debate by a 72-25 vote. The closure motion forced a vote on the nomination, and Alito was confirmed by a 58-42 vote, the smallest margin since Clarence Thomas's 1991 confirmation. Alito was sworn in on January 31, 2006.