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December 15 , 2005 | By Nathaniel Ward
Samuel Alito: A strong nominee
On October 31, President Bush nominated Judge Samuel Alito of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
Judge Samuel Alito is a strong nominee for the Supreme Court.
Judge Alito is a strong nominee for the Supreme Court, a man whose record indicates the necessary experience and respect for the rule of law. As Heritage Foundation President Edwin J. Feulner wrote, “He’s exactly the sort of person President Bush has long promised he’d nominate.”
A qualified lawyer
Judge Alito’s impressive legal experience includes:
- Arguing dozens of cases before the Supreme Court as an assistant to the solicitor general
- Advising the President and Cabinet secretaries on constitutional issues as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice
- Prosecuting major criminal enterprises as the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey
- Serving fifteen years as an appellate judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
As former Attorney General and Heritage Ronald Reagan Fellow and Edwin Meese III wrote, “Judge Alito has more federal judicial experience than 105 of 109 of the Supreme Court justices when they were appointed.”
The right judicial temperament
Judge Alito is dedicated to the rule of law and is known for his humility:
- As a lawyer and judge, he has shown careful and consistent fidelity to the Constitution and laws as written, without injecting bias or personal preferences
- He is a humble man with strong integrity, an even temperament, and a sound judicial philosophy
Even liberals agree
Even staunch liberals agree that Judge Alito is a conservative without an agenda, a man who will uphold the Constitution and not rewrite it based on personal policy preferences.
- Liberal Judge Timothy K. Lewis, who worked with Alito on the Third Circuit, told The Los Angeles Times that Alito “is not result-oriented. He is an honest conservative judge who believes in judicial restraint and judicial deference.”
- Legendary liberal judge A. Leon Higginbotham, according to Judge Lewis, said in 1992, “Sam Alito is my favorite judge to sit with on this court… He is a wonderful judge and a terrific human being. Sam Alito is my kind of conservative. He is intellectually honest. He doesn't have an agenda.”
- A liberal former law clerk, Kate Pringle, says Judge Alito“was not, in my personal experience, an ideologue. He pays attention to the facts of cases and applies the law in a careful way. He is conservative in that sense. His opinions don’t demonstrate an ideological slant.”
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