Why oppose Alito:

What President Bush's Supreme Court nomination of Samuel Alito means for the country:


BACKGROUND on ALITO:As a lawyer in the Reagan administration and as a federal judge, Alito has taken positions that are far out of the mainstream on the issues people care about:

o He has expressed deeply troubling views about reapportionment -- a basic democratic tenet that guarantees equal representation in voting, including the "One Person, One Vote" principle.

o He would have upheld the strip search of a mother and her ten-year old daughter, even though the warrant allowing the search did not name either of them.

o He has issued decisions making it harder for victims of race and sex discrimination to seek justice, and more difficult for victims of disability discrimination to prove their case.

o He has expressed troubling views on the right to privacy, specifically saying that 'the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion,' and forcefully advocating a legal strategy designed to restrict and eventually overturn Roe v. Wade.

o He ruled against part of the Family and Medical Leave Act--a law that guarantees most working people up to twelve weeks' leave to recover from a serious illness or help care for a family member.

o He has singled out his work to restrict affirmative action and limit remedies in racial discrimination cases as areas that he was "particularly proud of."

o He has offered excessively narrow readings of the Commerce Clause and excessively broad readings of "states' rights," voting to strike down a federal law restricting the possession and transfer of machine guns.

o He sided with corporate polluters in a ruling that made it much harder for victims of pollution to sue, even when the polluters were guilty of breaking the law. The Supreme Court eventually rejected Alito's position.