Tough questions expected for Alito

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats warned Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito on Thursday to expect pointed questions at next week's hearing and said they may postpone a final vote on his confirmation.

Alito's hearing before the Judiciary Committee, scheduled to begin Monday, will last a week, if it follows the pattern set by last year's confirmation for Chief Justice John Roberts. A Democratic member, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, said Thursday that senators will ask extensive questions and insist Alito answer them fully, even if it means pushing the hearing into the next week.

All judicial nominees are required to respond to senators' queries, Schumer said in a speech in Washington. "The obligation, however, is greater for some nominees," he said. "It is greater when a nominee has taken a clear position on a legal matter."

Schumer said Alito has written extensively about executive and congressional powers, abortion and "the issue of personal autonomy."

"On at least these issues and perhaps many others," he said, "Judge Alito has more to answer for than any other Supreme Court nominee in memory."

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said Alito faces "a steep hill to climb." But he would not speculate on whether Democrats, who hold 44 of the Senate's 100 seats, might use a filibuster to try to block a confirmation vote.

Alito's supporters said he is no more obligated to answer all questions than were previous nominees, several of whom sidestepped queries about pending or past Supreme Court cases.

"I expect Judge Alito will answer a lot of questions just in the same way that Chief Justice Roberts did and the same way that Ruth Bader Ginsburg did," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. Ginsburg was named to the Supreme Court by President Clinton, a Democrat.

Republicans hope the Judiciary Committee can vote Jan. 17 on whether to recommend Alito, allowing the full Senate to confirm or reject him a few days later.

But Schumer said Democrats have not decided whether to use their right to postpone the committee vote for one week, as is often done with federal court nominees. If they do, the committee's vote would occur no sooner than Jan. 24.