(2006-01-11)
— Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito told reporters today that despite
Sen. Charles Schumer’s hostile questioning in yesterday’s Senate
Judiciary Committee hearings, the federal appeals court judge would
“keep an open mind” about the New York lawmaker.
The remark reflected the same approach that Judge Alito told the committee he would take toward any abortion cases that might come before him as a Supreme Court justice.
“Despite the precedent of Sen. Schumer’s disparaging questions
yesterday, and his implication that my testimony is dishonest,” Judge
Alito said, “I will treat him as if the slate is clean and evaluate his
performance today on its merits.”
The judge declined an
invitation to characterize the senator’s long history of hostile
questioning to Republican nominees as “super-precedent” or “super-duper
precedent.”
“Any sort of categorization like that with regard to Sen. Schumer reminds me of the size of the disposable diapers in the supermarket,” Judge Alito said.
