By Hilary White
WASHINGTON, November 14, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Washington Times has reported that US President Bush’s latest nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., wrote in 1985 that he believed “very strongly” that “the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.”
The document obtained by the Times was an application to become deputy assistant to Attorney General Edwin I. Meese III during the Reagan administration.
Alito wrote that he had always considered himself a conservative. “I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government has argued in the Supreme Court that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion,” he said.
The Times quotes an anonymous source in the Republican party who denied that the 1985 document means that if appointed, Alito will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.
In the meantime, a poll has shown that, despite the escalating stridency of opposition from leftist activists, Alito has won the admiration of much of the US public. Gallup has released a poll showing that 50% of those polled say he should be appointed, with only 25% opposed this means Alito enjoys a 2-1 margin of support.
Even Judie Brown of American Life League, an organization known for its uncompromising stands, has endorsed Alito’s nomination. Brown wrote November 9 in a column on Alan Keyes’ website, Renew America, that despite what some in the pro-life movement are asserting, Alito’s 2000 decision to overturn a New Jersey partial birth abortion ban as unconstitutional does not mean that the judge considers abortion a constitutional right.
Brown points out that as a judge Alito is constrained to render decisions according to the established precedents. “As pro-lifers we insist that judges stop making up the law as they go along, and simply interpret the Constitution with care. That is what Judge Alito was, in my view, attempting to do.”
Brown writes, “Judge Alito is sane, he is principled, and he is a man who will truly judge a case on its constitutional merits rather than political mumbo-jumbo.”
Read coverage in the Washington Times:
https://washingtontimes.com/national/20051114-015136-2101r.htm
Read Judie Brown’s column:
https://www.renewamerica.us/columns/brown/051109