  
| 
| ||||||||||||
Bush urges quick confirmation of Alito
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush on Saturday asked the U.S. Senate to confirm Judge Samuel Alito, who underwent a five-day confirmation hearing this week, to serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. "During this week's hearings and over the course of his career, Judge Alito has demonstrated that he is eminently qualified to serve on our nation's highest court," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "Now the Senate has a duty to give Judge Alito a prompt up-or-down vote." During his confirmation hearings, Alito testified for three days and managed to survive often-contentious questioning virtually untouched. He also got the unequivocal support of a key lawmaker, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, a moderate and abortion-rights supporter. "In his opening statement to the committee, Judge Alito offered an eloquent description of the proper role of a judge," Bush said. "He put it this way: 'A judge cannot have any agenda, a judge cannot have any preferred outcome in any particular case. The judge's only obligation is to the rule of law. In every single case, the judge has to do what the law requires.'" Bush said of Alito, "He forthrightly answered questions with grace and composure, and showed his personal humility and legal brilliance -- qualities that have made him one of America's most accomplished and respected judges." Judicial experienceThe president noted that Alito -- nominated by Bush's father to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit -- has more judicial experience than any Supreme Court nominee in more than 70 years. Alito's fellow appeals court judges testified this week in support of his confirmation at the Senate hearings. Bush extended his thanks to Alito's wife, Martha-Ann, and the couple's children "for their patience and dignity during the confirmation process." Martha-Ann Alito broke down in tears Wednesday after her husband was grilled for hours. Alito was asked several times about his prior membership in Concerned Alumni of Princeton, a group which advocated admission restrictions on women and minorities. The next move on Alito is up to the Senate committee. Specter has expressed his wish for a vote, but ranking Democrat Patrick Leahy indicated he wants a one-week delay, which rules allow. Alito likely has secured the votes of all 10 GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but the panel's eight Democrats have not indicated which way they will vote. Alito was nominated October 31 by Bush to replace the retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. He praised the first woman to sit on the high court, telling lawmakers, "I would try to emulate her dedication and her integrity and her dedication to the case-by-case process of adjudication." 
|
| ||||||||||||
| © 2007 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
 |
|
External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pay service with live and archived video. 
