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Samuel Alito Jr.
Posted 7/19/05
By Bret Schulte
Nicknamed
"Scalito" for views resembling those of conservative Supreme Court
Justice Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito Jr. is a favorite son of the
political right. Appointed in 1990 by George H.W. Bush to the Third
Circuit Court of Appeals, Alito has earned a reputation for
intellectual rigor and polite but frequent dissent in a court that
has been historically liberal. His mettle, as well as a personable
demeanor and ties to former Republican administrations, has long had
observers buzzing about his potential rise to the high court. "Sam
Alito is in my mind the strongest candidate on the list," says
Pepperdine law Prof. Douglas Kmiec. "I know them all . . . but I
think Sam is a standout because he's a judge's judge. He approaches
cases with impartiality and open-mindedness."
A New Jersey native, the 55-year-old Alito
received a bachelor's degree from Princeton and graduated from Yale
Law School. He worked in the solicitor general's office during the
Reagan administration and was a U.S. attorney for the District of
New Jersey when George H.W. Bush nominated him to the Third Circuit.
His 15 years on the bench have been marked by strong conservatism on
a case-by-case basis that avoids
sweeping opinions on constitutionality.
In 1997, Alito authored the majority opinion
upholding a city's right to stage a holiday display that included a
Nativity scene and a menorah because the city also included secular
symbols and a banner emphasizing the importance of diversity. In
Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Alito was the sole dissenter on
the Third Circuit, which struck a Pennsylvania law that required
women seeking abortions to consult their husbands. He argued that
many of the potential reasons for an abortion, such as "economic
constraints, future plans, or the husbands' previously expressed
opposition . . . may be obviated by discussion prior to abortion."
The case went on to the Supreme Court, which upheld the lower
court's decision 6 to 3.
Alito's conservative stripes are equally
evident in criminal law. Lawrence Lustberg, a New Jersey criminal
defense lawyer who has known Alito since 1981 and tried cases before
him on the Third Circuit, describes him as "an activist conservatist judge"
who is tough on crime and narrowly construes prisoners' and
criminals' rights. "He's very prosecutorial from the bench. He has
looked to be creative in his conservatism, which is, I think, as
much a Rehnquist as a Scalia trait," Lustberg says.
Some observers say that Alito cannot be easily
pigeon-holed. In Saxe v. State College Area School District,
Alito, writing for the panel, argued
that the school does not have the right to punish students for
vulgar language or harassment when it doesn't disrupt the school
day. "Sam struck that down as a violation of
free speech," Kmiec says. "That's not a conservative outcome."
Off the bench, friends and colleagues describe
Alito as quiet and self-effacing with a wry sense of humor. He is a
voracious reader with a particular love for biographies and history.
With his wife, Martha, he has a son in college and a daughter in
high school. "He's mild mannered and generous and family oriented,"
Lustberg says. "I don't agree with him on many issues, but I have
the utmost respect for him. No one can question his intelligence or
integrity."
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