Democrats won't rule out filibuster

WASHINGTON -- As pressure mounts on their party to fight the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., several key Democrats said yesterday they are prepared to oppose a nominee whose ideology they don't like -- leaving open the possibility of using a filibuster to block his confirmation.

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat and one of a bipartisan group of 14 senators who averted a legislative showdown over judges earlier this year, said he wants to know whether Alito's judicial philosophy is ''outside the mainstream" before deciding whether a filibuster is justified.

Lieberman, speaking after a meeting of the bipartisan group of 14 senators said he and other Democrats first want to hear from the judge himself during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, set for January. But he made clear that, despite remarks from some Republican members of the group, a filibuster of Alito remains on the table.

''Ideology is a relevant factor," Lieberman said. ''I see some things today that would raise questions in my mind about opinions that he's written, but they're questions. I don't think we're willing to rule anything in or out at this point."

That Democrats in the bipartisan group are willing to consider a filibuster means that it is possible their party could have enough votes to block Alito's confirmation. At least three of the seven Democrats in the group would have to join the rest of their colleagues to reach the 41 votes needed to stop the nomination -- a tall order but within the realm of possibility if the campaign against Alito intensifies in the coming weeks.

Along with Lieberman, group member Senator Ken Salazar, Democrat of Colorado, said he wants to be sure that Alito fits the ''mainstream position" as the replacement for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. He noted that President Bush didn't consult with senators before naming Alito, a federal appellate judge, even though the bipartisan group's agreement called on the president to seek their advice.

Alito's confirmation hearings will begin Jan. 9, with a vote on the Senate floor expected around Jan. 20. Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter said it wasn't ''practical or realistic" to meet the president's goal of confirming Alito by year's end, because numerous documents related to Alito are still being tracked down at the National Archives and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

''We have to do it right. We can't do it fast," said Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania.

No Democrat has openly opposed Alito, a former prosecutor and veteran judge, but party leaders have made it clear that they are ready for a fight. Liberal interest groups are urging senators to keep Alito off the Supreme Court.

The first anti-Alito television ad, sponsored by the organization People for the American Way, lists Bush's woes -- Hurricane Katrina, the war in Iraq, and criminal charges against former top-level White House aides -- and links them to Alito's selection.

''George Bush's presidency is in trouble -- and he'll do anything to save it, even giving the radical right wing the power to choose who sits on the Supreme Court," according to the ad, which will run nationally on cable TV and in several local markets beginning Sunday. ''First the radical right vetoed Harriet Miers to replace Sandra Day O'Connor. Now Bush has named their handpicked candidate, Samuel Alito -- threatening fundamental rights and freedoms that Justice O'Connor protected."

Alito also has some skeptics within the Republican Party. Senator Lincoln D. Chafee, Republican of Rhode Island, would not rule out standing with the Democrats in a filibuster, although he quickly added that he wants to avoid the legislative gridlock that such a move would probably trigger.

''It's too early to even have that conversation," Chafee said. ''We all know the consequences of filibusters -- rule changes, nuclear options. I don't think anybody even wants to get any momentum in that direction."

Chafee, who backs abortion rights, said the possibility that Alito, a solid conservative, would vote to overturn legalized abortion is troubling. Though Alito has not specifically said how he would vote on Roe v. Wade, he was the lone dissenter in a federal appeals case that struck down a Pennsylvania law requiring married women who want abortions to seek their husbands' permission.

Senator Lindsey O. Graham, Republican of South Carolina, agreed with Lieberman that a ''rigid ideologue" who ignores the law to serve a political agenda should not be on the court. But he added that there's ''not an ounce of evidence" so far to suggest that Alito would fit that bill.

Yesterday's meeting of the bipartisan group, dubbed the Gang of 14, was the first since Alito's nomination on Monday and it was eagerly anticipated because those senators have the potential to decide the fate of the nomination. In May, the seven Republicans in the group agreed to preserve the Democrats' right to filibuster judges in exchange for the party's commitment to limit filibusters to ''extraordinary circumstances."

Two of the group's Republicans, Graham and Mike DeWine of Ohio, have threatened to support changing Senate rules to ban filibusters if Democrats engage in the tactic to block Alito. It is known as the ''nuclear option" because Democrats say they would grind legislative business to a halt if Republicans make that move.