Alito tells panel he has no agenda

WASHINGTON -- Stressing his humble roots, Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. said yesterday before a Senate committee deciding his nomination that he would come to the Supreme Court without a political agenda.

He also vowed to apply the law equally to all before the court.

In his first appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Alito made an 11-minute opening statement in which he described how his father's life as an Italian immigrant -- and his personal journey from a working-class childhood in Trenton, N.J., to his nomination by President Bush to serve on the nation's highest court.

This experience, Alito said, was the foundation of his belief in fairness, opportunity, and equal justice.

Alito said that when he donned the robes of a federal judge in 1990, he adopted a mindset to rule strictly on the law, regardless of the outcome.

''A judge can't have any agenda, a judge can't have any preferred outcome in any particular case, and a judge certainly doesn't have a client," Alito said.

''The judge's only obligation -- and it's a solemn obligation -- is to the rule of law. What that means is that in every single case, the judge has to do what the law requires."

Alito's comments, in the opening day of his confirmation hearings, followed harsh attacks from several Democratic senators -- including some who had supported Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. last fall -- over views that Alito espoused as a Reagan administration lawyer in the 1980s, and as a federal judge since 1990.

Speaking slowly and deliberately, and glancing only sporadically at notes, Alito, 55, also spoke briefly about concerns that he would unduly defer to presidential authority.

He said that he has always been committed to the principle of equal treatment under the law.

Alito's record as a Reagan administration lawyer includes several memos indicating that he may have favored an expansion of presidential power.

''No person in this country, no matter how high or powerful, is above the law, and no person in this country is beneath the law," Alito said.

This phase of the confirmation process began the first of what are expected to be two or three days of contentious questioning by committee members. Senate Republican leaders say they want a final vote on Alito's nomination by the end of next week.

Yesterday's hearing started with sharp rhetoric from both Democrats and Republicans in 10-minute speeches from the committee members. The remarks struck a harsher tone than Roberts's confirmation hearings.

Several Democratic senators said the revelation that Bush authorized a government agency to eavesdrop on telephone calls and read e-mail messages without court warrants underscored a need to determine that Alito would protect the Constitution, even if it means standing against the White House.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said Alito writings had demonstrated a ''clear record of support for vast presidential authority."

''In an era when the White House is abusing power, is excusing and authorizing torture, and is spying on American citizens, I find Judge Alito's support for an all-powerful executive branch to be genuinely troubling," Kennedy said. ''Independent and impartial judges must assess the proper balance between protecting our liberties and protecting our national security."

Senator Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat, described Alito's burden as ''triply high": The judge could hold a crucial tiebreaking vote, he has been embraced by conservative activists, and his record suggests that a conservative ideology has influenced his decisions, Schumer said.

''You give the impression of being a meticulous legal navigator, but in the end, you always seem to chart a rightward course," Schumer said. ''We need to know: When a president goes too far, will you be a check on his power, or will you issue him a blank check to exercise whatever power he alone thinks appropriate?"

Hitting on a theme discussed by almost all committee Democrats yesterday, Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont pointed out that Alito would replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor -- the first female justice and a Reagan appointee who sometimes voted with the court's more liberal justices on key cases involving reproductive rights and religious freedoms.

''Her legacy is one of fairness, and when I decide how to vote, it's because I want to see that legacy preserved," said Leahy, the judiciary committee's ranking Democrat. ''She's come to provide balance and a check on government intrusion into our personal privacy and freedoms."

Alito got a far friendlier reception from Republicans. Senator Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona, pledged to come to Alito's defense if Democrats badger him to answer questions that would force him to effectively prejudge cases.

Senator Lindsey O. Graham, a South Carolina Republican, mocked the notion of liberal senators deciding if Alito is a ''mainstream conservative."

''If you asked me who a mainstream liberal is, I would be the worst person to pick, because I do not hang out over there," Graham said. Of the Judiciary Committee Republicans, Graham said, ''I expect that most all of us, if not all of us, will vote for you.

''And I would argue that we represent from the center line to the right ditch in our party, and, if all of us vote for you, you've got to be pretty mainstream."

Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, perhaps the only Republican on the panel whose vote is uncertain, signaled that he will give Alito ample opportunity to explain his position on abortion. Specter, who supports abortion rights, will quiz Alito closely on Roe v. Wade when questioning begins this morning.

Specter noted that interest groups have often been wrong about how Supreme Court nominees would vote on abortion rights cases, noting that liberal organizations fought Justice David H. Souter's nomination in 1990. Since his confirmation, Souter has become a vote in favor of abortion rights.

In fact, Specter said, if Alito is confirmed he might not tip the political balance on the court, since Roberts has stressed the importance of stability and since he could wind up replacing O'Connor as a moderate on the court.

''The history of this issue [of abortion] has been one full of surprises," said Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican.

''This hearing will give Judge Alito the public forum to address the issue, as he has with senators in private meetings, that his personal views and prior advocacy will not determine his judicial decision," Specter added.

But even if Alito gains Specter's support, Democrats on the committee appear poised to vote against him in larger numbers than during Roberts's confirmation. Leahy and the two other Democrats on the panel who supported Roberts -- Wisconsin Senators Russell Feingold and Herb Kohl -- discussed Alito's record with skepticism.

Feingold said he wants a better explanation of Alito's decision as an appeals judge to hear cases involving the Vanguard investment firm. Alito had promised to recuse himself from such cases, because he has acknowledged that he had a stake in the company.

''In these days of corruption investigations and indictments in Washington, we also need judges who are beyond ethical reproach," Feingold said. ''Before we grant lifetime tenure to federal judges, and particularly justices of the Supreme Court, we must make sure that they have the highest ethical standards"

Though no Democrats raised the prospect of a filibuster yesterday, the possibility that they might use one to stop Alito's nomination before the full Senate is lingering over the confirmation hearings.

Before the hearing began, Bush had breakfast with Alito, and he then applied pressure on Senate Democrats to rule out a filibuster on the confirmation.

''My hope, of course, is that the Senate bring dignity to the process and give this man a fair hearing and an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor," Bush said.

Democrats then reminded Republicans of the failed nomination of Harriet E. Miers, Bush's White House counsel.

Miers was forced to withdraw amid a conservative uproar over her modest legal credentials and moderate stance on social issues, including abortion.''Many Republican senators certainly demanded answers from Harriet Miers," Kennedy said. ''We should expect no less from Judge Alito."

Schumer said the Miers nomination had taught Republicans to agree with Democrats: nominees must explain, in detail, their ''judicial philosophy and ideology." Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, said of Miers: ''She was not viewed as a true believer. What do these same extremists find in your record that is so comforting?"

Specter said after yesterday's session that Democrats' suspicions would be answered, and accused them of a ''very selective reading" of Alito's record. He urged senators from both parties to withhold judgment on Alito until after the hearings are complete.

Rick Klein can be reached at rklein@globe.com.