Missteps avoided; looks like Alito's in

WASHINGTON — Samuel Alito, who could shift the Supreme Court to the right, appears headed for the high court after completing three days of interrogation without a serious misstep.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee made a final stab at challenging Alito on presidential powers, the death penalty and other matters. But even the most liberal advocacy groups said privately they saw slim hopes of preventing his confirmation this month in the full Senate, where Republicans hold 55 of the 100 seats.

When the hearing began Monday, liberal activists said their best hope was for Alito, 55, to commit a gaffe or lose his composure. When his 18 hours of testimony ended at lunchtime Thursday, all sides agreed he had done neither.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., is pressing for a panel vote on Alito's nomination Tuesday, but Democrats are expected to put off the vote until after their caucus meeting Wednesday. All 10 committee Republicans appear virtually certain to support him, while several senators predicted all eight Democrats will oppose him.

Democrats weren't ruling out a filibuster, which allows 40 of the 100 senators to block a vote. But some key senators, whose support would be needed for a filibuster, said they oppose such a move.

Three members of the "Gang of 14," a bipartisan group of senators whose support would be vital to sustaining a filibuster in the full Senate, said they do not see any grounds for the maneuver. "So far, I have seen nothing ... that I would consider a disqualifying issue," said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.

Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., echoed that view, as did a spokeswoman for Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. "Sen. Snowe does not believe that Judge Alito warrants a filibuster at this juncture," Antonia Ferrier said.

Two other "gang" members, Sens. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., participated in Alito's confirmation hearings and said they back him.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, predicted Alito will win the backing of all 55 GOP senators, including those who support abortion rights.

He practically dared Democrats to try a filibuster. "If they want to filibuster, frankly, bring it on," Hatch said. In return, he predicted, Republicans would change Senate rules to ban judicial filibusters.

"We've still got a ways to go to figure what the strategy is going to be," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., the committee's best-known liberal.

But Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has urged Democrats not to take a public position on Alito until they discuss the nomination, including whether to filibuster.

The White House figures Alito will win 60 to 70 votes for confirmation, fewer than the 78 votes Chief Justice John Roberts received last year, said an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Some liberals fear Alito's potential impact on the court because President Bush tapped him to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has sided with liberal justices in several high-profile 5-4 decisions over the years. Alito, a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Philadelphia for the past 15 years, praised O'Connor's work ethic Thursday without addressing her often moderate views.

"I would try to emulate her dedication and her integrity and her dedication to the case-by-case process of adjudication," he told Sen. Herbert Kohl, D-Wis. "I am my own person, with whatever abilities I have and whatever limitations I have."

Throughout the week, committee Democrats cited Alito's rulings and writings on several fronts. Alito parried questions about his 1985 statement that the Constitution does not protect the right to abortion by saying he would keep an open mind as a justice.

When Democrats said he would not act as a check on unbridled presidential powers, he said the president is not above the law, while dodging the issue of whether Bush's recently disclosed domestic-surveillance program is legal. He said he had been forgetful in failing to recuse himself in a case involving the Vanguard investment company.

At the hearing's outset Monday, many liberals and conservatives thought Alito, compared with Roberts, would be more vulnerable to Democratic attacks because he has a longer and more conservative record to defend. Thursday, activists in both camps said Alito had avoided all major traps by maintaining his calm and refusing to be drawn into definitive statements about issues such as abortion.

"I was a little apprehensive going in," said Ed Whelan, a conservative commentator supporting Alito's effort. "But in his way, he was at least as impressive as Roberts."

Nan Aron, head of the liberal Alliance for Justice, which opposes Alito, said Roberts' performance seemed to create momentum that carried over to Alito.

While some liberal activists wanted Democrats to question the nominee more aggressively, Aron did not fault their performance. "Most of the problematic issues have been touched on by the senators," she said.

Wednesday's biggest bang ended in a whimper Thursday, when Specter said Alito's name was not found during a late-night search of documents at the Library of Congress dealing with a group called Concerned Alumni of Princeton. Alito had boasted of his membership in a 1985 job application in the Reagan administration but told senators he could recall very little about the group, which opposed increased enrollments of women and minorities at Princeton.

Several Republicans said Democrats' efforts were hurt Wednesday when Alito's wife fled the hearing room in tears after Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., summarized the attacks related to the alumni group.

Thursday, Alito declined to answer questions about efforts to rescind the Supreme Court's jurisdiction over certain types of cases, such as those involving school desegregation, saying he did not want to "hazard an answer" without further study.

After senators finished questioning Alito, they heard from witnesses favoring and opposing the nomination. In a first for Supreme Court nomination hearings, seven of Alito's current or former colleagues from the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals testified on his behalf.

Retired Judge Timothy Lewis, who sat with Alito for seven years and described himself as "unapologetically pro-choice," said that while he has sometimes disagreed with Alito, "I cannot recall one instance" when "he exhibited anything remotely resembling an ideological bent."

Stephen Tober of the American Bar Association said the group gave Alito its highest recommendation after interviewing more than 300 people.

Civil-rights leaders and abortion-rights advocates were among those testifying against Alito. They characterized his record as insensitive to women and minorities.

Material from USA Today and the Chicago Tribune is included in this report.