Fireworks on Alito

Senate Judiciary Committee members will finally get their chance to publicly grill Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito today after a week of intense grass-roots lobbying by progressive and conservative interest groups.

With a longer, and more controversial, paper trail than Chief Justice John Roberts and the court's swing seat at stake, Alito is expected to face tough questioning from senators on issues such as the limits of executive power, the role of precedent, affirmative action and religious expression, based on statements from senators and three letters sent to Alito by Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa.

Democrats signaled the seriousness of their reservations by considering a procedural move that would force the committee to wait one week before sending Alito's name to the full Senate. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., had wanted a Senate vote next week. With retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a moderate, serving on the court until her successor is confirmed, Republicans are anxious to install the more conservative Alito.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a Judiciary Committee member and head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a speech last week that Alito should not expect an easy pass. Judge Alito has more to answer for than any other Supreme Court nominee in memory.

When a nominee has taken a position on a legal matter -- particularly when he has done so strongly and stridently, as Judge Alito has, there is a greater obligation to answer questions, Schumer said.

As for a possible filibuster, Democrats are taking a wait-and-see approach until after the hearings. Frist has pledged to "use all of the tools I have" to simply get votes for the president's judicial nominees to the Senate floor.

But experts think a filibuster is unlikely. "I dont think there's enough public interest to justify a filibuster," said Steven Smith, a political science professor at Washington University in St. Louis. An ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted in December showed 54 percent of Americans think the Senate should confirm Alito.

Still, Smith said, there are enough questions being raised by Democrats to make a majority of them inclined to vote no. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., another Judiciary Committee member, noted last week that Alito has a steep hill to climb.

Democrats, who will call at least 14 witnesses this week, plan to aggressively pursue the issue of presidential power given the disclosure last month that President Bush authorized secret wiretaps without seeking court-approved warrants. In a 1984 memo to the solicitor general, Alito, then working in the Reagan administration, backed the idea of giving former Attorney General John Mitchell absolute immunity for warrantless wiretaps conducted in the 1970s.

That led Schumer to warn Alito in a Dec. 23 letter that if he refuses to fully answer questions about his views, it will make it harder for members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote for his confirmation. Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the memo deepens the impression of activism that colors Judge Alito's career.

The lag time in holding hearings for Alito, whom Bush nominated on Oct. 31, means questions about checks and balances will likely get more attention than if the hearings had been held just four weeks ago, noted G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa.

Another concern for Democrats is a 1985 memo in which the 55-year-old Alito stated that the White House should adopt a policy of gradually undermining Roe v. Wade, the court's landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion. Alito told Specter, who supports abortion rights, in December that he was solely acting as an advocate, according to Congressional Quarterly.