Chafee says he will vote against Alito

PROVIDENCE, R.I. --Sen. Lincoln Chafee said Monday he will vote against Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, making him the first Republican to say he'll reject President Bush's nominee.

Congressional leaders say they expect a final vote Tuesday on Alito's confirmation. If approved, the federal appeals court judge would replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Chafee, who is running for re-election, voted to confirm Chief Justice John Roberts last fall. He said he respects President Bush's right to choose his justices, but he fears the long-term impact Alito could have on the Supreme Court.

"I am a pro-choice, pro-environment, pro-Bill of Rights Republican, and I will be voting against this nomination," the Rhode Island senator said.

Chafee, who has split with Republicans and Bush on other key issues, is a member of the "Gang of 14," a coalition of centrist senators who defused a Senate showdown over judicial filibusters last year. He said the group would stick together this time and oppose any effort to block Alito's nomination.

"How are we going to get anything done if we can't work together?" he said.

Republican and Democratic senators voted 72-25 to end their debate Monday, setting up a Tuesday morning vote on Alito's confirmation. Massachusetts Democrats Edward Kennedy and John Kerry and a handful of others had proposed a filibuster.

Chafee said he was influenced by recent events when he made his decision Friday. He expressed concern about domestic spying and said Alito seemed inclined to stretch the president's executive powers, allowing warrantless wiretaps and other searches.

"Government coming in and knocking down the doors of our houses, symbolically, and coming in without warrants," Chafee said. "I think that is not what Republicans believe in government. It's not hard to get a warrant, and we need -- Republicans, Democrats and independents -- to stand up for our Constitution and Bill of Rights."

He likened the current climate regarding national security to the Red Scare of the 1920s and predicted his stance would make sense down the road -- much as his vote against the war in Iraq has become an election-year asset.

In the short-term, however, Chafee said he expects Republican voters in Rhode Island to be angered by his vote.

"I'll be walking across some coals for a while," he said.

Brown University political scientist Darrell West said Chafee's vote is unlikely to hurt him in the Republican primary, where he faces Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey. Chafee needs to draw independents to the polls to win, and independents are more moderate and less enthralled with Alito, West said.

They also like to vote in hot races.

"This will definitely heat the race up because now Chafee has taken a position at odds with Laffey," West predicted.

Laffey has said he would vote to confirm Alito. He called Chafee's decision "disappointing, but not at all surprising."

Laffey and Democratic candidates Matt Brown and Sheldon Whitehouse criticized Chafee for playing both sides of the fence, particularly in regard to his stance on abortion. Whitehouse said the vote against Alito was meaningless without support for a filibuster.