Alito Wraps Up Senate Testimony

Supreme Court Nominee Deflects Grilling From Democrats

(CBS/AP)  Schiavo suffered a brain injury in 1990 that left her in what some doctors called a "persistent vegetative state." Her parents sought to keep her feeding tube in place while her husband wanted to have it removed, citing her wishes and setting off a bitter court battle.

Congress, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and his brother, President Bush, all sought to have the feeding tube reinserted. Schiavo died on March 31.

Specter opened Thursday's session by announcing that an examination of hundreds of documents from the founder of a controversial college alumni group found no mention of Alito.

The federal judge's membership in Concerned Alumni of Princeton, which discouraged the admission of women and minorities at the Ivy League school, has been a divisive issue at the hearings. Alito has repeatedly said he does not recall his membership in the group despite highlighting his involvement on a Reagan-era job application.

Specter said the panel's staff combed through four boxes of documents at the Library of Congress of William Rusher, a founder of CAP, "but Sam Alito's name is nowhere to be found in any of them."

The files caused a flare-up Wednesday between Sen. Edward Kennedy and Specter (video), in which Kennedy threatened to subpoena the documents, and Specter told the Democrat, "I'm not going to have you run this committee."

On Thursday, Kennedy assailed Alito's judicial record and testimony, saying again that he was troubled by the judge's inability to recall his membership in the Princeton group.

"The average guy has a hard time in getting a fair shake in Judge Alito's courtroom," Kennedy said, in his summary of Alito's rulings.

Kennedy also pressed Alito on why he didn't disqualify himself from participating in a Vanguard case in 2002 despite his 1990 promise to the Senate to recuse himself in cases involving the mutual fund company.

Alito said it was an oversight and defended his statements to the committee.

"I have not given conflicting answers. I've been asked a number of different questions," he said.

Bristling at the Democratic focus on what he called "phony issues," Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah said, "I don't think you've been fairly treated and it makes everybody wonder, 'Why would anyone want to do these jobs?' "

On Wednesday, during a contentious third day of hearings that at one point left Alito's wife in tears, the federal appeals court judge remained unflappable under persistent questioning by Democrats who attacked his credibility.

"Many people will leave this hearing with a question as to whether or not you could be the deciding vote that would eliminate the legality of abortion," Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said during Democrats' grilling the nominee about whether he now believes, as he did in 1985, that the Constitution contains no right to an abortion.

Alito refused to say.

"I don't think it's appropriate for me to speak about issues that could realistically come up" before the courts, he said, falling back on a line also used by now-Chief Justice John Roberts and other Supreme Court members during their confirmation hearings.

Unlike Roberts, who said at his lower court confirmation hearing in 2003 that he thought Roe v. Wade was "settled law," Alito said it was a precedent that should be respected. He would neither agree nor disagree that it was settled law when asked repeatedly by Durbin.