More Democrats Announce Samuel Alito Opposition, Republicans Supportive 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 20, 2006
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — More Democrats are indicating they will oppose the nomination of Samuel Alito to replace pro-abortion outgoing Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court. Yesterday a trio of Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee announced their opposition.
Ted Kennedy, one of the Democrats on Thursday to announce his opposition, said much of it had to do with Alito’s views on abortions. The federal appeals court judge was criticized during committee hearings on a 1985 memo he wrote in which he said he thought there was no right to abortion in the Constitution.
Kennedy said he plans to vote against Samuel Alito because the judge is "itching to overturn Roe v. Wade."
Other Democrats are joining Kennedy, top Democrat on the judicial panel Pat Leahy and number two Democrat Richard Durbin.
Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado also says he plans to vote against Alito and Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, Tom Harkin of Iowa and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland joined him.
On the other hand Republicans continue to line up in Alito’s corner and John Sununu of New Hampshire and John Warner of Virginia have announced their support.
"He understands the law and the Constitution extremely well, and I think one of the abilities he showed was to clearly describe how he ruled, why he ruled, and what factors were critical to particular cases," Sununu said. "That’s an indication that his service on the court and his view of the Constitution is rooted in principle."
Sen. Gordon Smith will be supporting Alito’s bid but his Democratic counterpart Ron Wyden will not.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she is disappointed in his reluctance to describe the law related to abortion as "settled law" but said she will vote for him anyway.
Meanwhile, Alito has continued last-minute meetings with members of the Senate he didn’t get a chance to visit prior to the committee hearings. He met Thursday with Tom Carper of Delaware and new Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey.
Menendez did not announce his position but said he has "reservations."
