Nominee's decisions leave little doubt

Judge Samuel Alito has written strongly conservative decisions on reproductive rights, the role of religion in public life, federalism, defendants' rights and the environment.

Although Alito's opinions in abortion cases drew the most comment Monday, he also voted to invalidate a federal prohibition of machine-gun possession, and voted to strike down part of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. In addition, he issued dissents that would make it more difficult for plaintiffs to prove claims of sex and race discrimination.

A number of legal scholars, including liberals and conservatives, agreed that Alito is considerably more conservative than Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, whom he would succeed.

Among Alito's most noteworthy opinions:

Family leave: In Chittister v. Department of Community and Economic Development, Alito questioned Congress' power to require state governments to grant family and medical leave to men and women equally.

Alito's opinion would have denied protection to millions of workers Congress clearly intended to cover with the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.

The Supreme Court contradicted Alito's thinking in a 2003 ruling in Hibbs v. Nevada Department of Human Resources. The late Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote the opinion.

Guns: In 1996, he dissented in U.S. v. Rybar, a case challenging Congress' power to prohibit the possession or transfer of machine guns. The majority ruled that "the regulation of machine-gun transfer and possession comes within Congress' power to legislate under the Commerce Clause." Alito retorted that a 1995 Supreme Court decision striking down an act of Congress based on the Commerce Clause meant that the appeals court had to invalidate the machine-gun law.

Bias: In 1997, in Bray v. Marriott Hotels, Alito found that a plaintiff had not shown enough evidence to be entitled to a trial on her claim that her employer had denied her a promotion because of racial bias. But the majority disagreed, saying that if Alito's approach were followed, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act "would be eviscerated."

Alito said proving discrimination and that the employer was responsible weren't always enough to ensure that the claim wouldn't be dismissed by a court. He based his interpretation on the rulings of another, more-conservative appellate court decision, urging his colleagues on the 3rd Circuit to adopt that standard. They didn't.

Holiday display: In 1999, in American Civil Liberties Union v. Schundler, Alito wrote for the majority in a case that upheld a modified holiday display at City Hall in Jersey City, N.J., which had been challenged on the grounds that it amounted to government promotion of religion. Originally, the display had contained a menorah and a creche. Subsequently, secular symbols including Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus and Kwanzaa symbols were added to the display.

Alito said that made it acceptable, citing prior Supreme Court decisions that government displays of a menorah or a creche were not automatically unconstitutional. "It is hard to accept the proposition that the Establishment Clause is violated when these two symbols are displayed together as part of a holiday display that includes secular symbols and is dedicated to the celebration of a municipality's cultural diversity."

Searches: In 2003, Alito dissented in a case stemming from a drug raid in Pennsylvania in which a 10-year-old girl and her mother were strip-searched. They filed a lawsuit against police officers, contending that their rights were violated. The officers said that they were entitled to qualified immunity and a federal district court judge agreed.

The plaintiffs appealed, and the 3rd Circuit reversed in a decision written by then-Judge Michael Chertoff, who now heads the Department of Homeland Security. Chertoff said that if Alito's view had prevailed, it would have seriously damaged rights guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment.

Representation: In 2004, Alito wrote the majority opinion rejecting a claim by an inmate on Pennsylvania's death row that his lawyer had done a poor job. Alito ruled that the failure of the inmate's attorneys to obtain school records and other mitigating information at the sentencing hearing did not constitute ineffective assistance of counsel.

Last year, the Supreme Court reversed the decision in a 5-4 ruling written by Justice David Souter, who concluded that the defense lawyer's performance fell well below constitutional standards.

Beards: Not all of Alito's rulings have been in a conservative vein. In 1999, in Fraternal Order of Police v. Newark, he ruled in favor of a group of devout Sunni Muslim police officers whose department prohibited male officers from wearing beards. In a unanimous decision, written by Alito, the 3rd Circuit barred Newark's policy on the grounds that it violated the Constitution's Free Exercise of Religion Clause.

Additional information from Knight Ridder Newspapers