Alito Sworn In As High Court Justice

Takes Oath After Winning Partisan Senate Confirmation Vote

(CBS/AP) 
Critics who mounted a fierce campaign against his nomination noted that while he worked in the solicitor general's office for President Reagan, he suggested that the Justice Department should try to chip away at abortion rights rather than mount an all-out assault. He also wrote in a 1985 job application for another Reagan administration post that he was proud of his work helping the government argue that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion."

Now, Alito says, he has great respect for Roe as a precedent but refused to commit to upholding it in the future. "I would approach the question with an open mind and I would listen to the arguments that were made," he told senators at his confirmation hearing earlier this month.

Democrats weren't convinced, with liberals unsuccessfully trying to rally support to filibuster Alito on Monday.

"The 1985 document amounted to Judge Alito's pledge of allegiance to a conservative, radical Republican ideology," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said before the vote.

They also repeatedly questioned Alito at his five-day confirmation hearing after he would not discuss his opinions about abortion or other contentious topics. At one point, his wife, Martha-Ann, started crying and left the hearing room as her husband's supporters defended him from the Democratic questioning.

"To Judge Alito, I say you deserve a seat on the Supreme Court," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

Alito's path to the Supreme Court is infused with New Jersey connections. Born in Trenton as the son of an Italian immigrant, he attended Princeton University. He headed to Connecticut to receive his law degree, graduating from Yale University in 1975. His late father, Samuel Alito Sr., was the director of New Jersey's Office of Legislative Services from 1952 to 1984. Alito's sister, Rosemary, is a top employment lawyer in New Jersey.

Alito was not the White House's first choice — or even second choice — for the Supreme Court. Mr. Bush picked Roberts when O'Connor first announced she was stepping down last year.

After Roberts was promoted to the top spot after Chief Justice William Rehnquist died, the White House against passed over Alito for the vacant seat, instead selecting White House counsel Harriet Miers.

Miers' withdrawal following a barrage of conservative criticism in late October finally brought Alito's name to the forefront, although he then had to contend with constant references as "Scalito" or "Scalia-lite," references to his judicial similarity to Justice Antonin Scalia.

"I'm my own person. And I'm not like any other justice on the Supreme Court now or anybody else who served on the Supreme Court in the past," Alito said at his confirmation hearing.