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from the January 17, 2006 edition

For Senate Democrats, a last stand on Alito

By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

WASHINGTON – After an unflappable 18 hours before a panel of 18 senators last week, Judge Samuel Alito is all but assured confirmation in the full Senate - just not by Friday.
At 11 a.m. Tuesday, Senate Democrats are expected to delay the vote, despite an agreement with the panel's chairman, Sen. Arlen Specter (R) of Pennsylvania, to move Judge Alito's nomination toward a final Senate vote by Jan. 20.

The delay would give Democrats a last chance to discuss strategy on this vote face to face, to sift through Alito's response to written questions, to revisit hearing transcripts, and to do one last nose count on whether there is support for a filibuster to block the vote.

"It is a momentous decision, and they need more time to think about it," says Carl Tobias, a constitutional law professor at the University of Richmond Law School.

It also gives groups opposing the nomination another week - and the Jan. 23 anniversary of the 1973 Roe. v. Wade decision, expected to draw hundreds of thousands to the nation's capital on the eve of the new vote - around which to organize.

"Nothing is over until it's over," says Marcia Greenberger, copresident and founder of the National Women's Law Center, which opposes Judge Alito. "What's really important is to let the dust settle a little and to let the implications of these hearings settle in."

Anti-Alito activists say they can pick up another million signatures in the run-up to a delayed vote, in a bid to focus senators' attention on the threat they say he poses to abortion rights, protection from discrimination on the job, and curbs on the abuse of executive power.