As Democrats Lead Opposition, GOP Moderates May Control Vote

Washington Post ^ | 11/1/05 | Charles Babington

[nj26]

Senate Democrats will lead the opposition to Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s Supreme Court nomination, but a handful of Republican moderates could ultimately decide its outcome, several analysts and lawmakers said yesterday.

The roughly half-dozen GOP senators who support abortion rights are scrutinizing Alito's dissent in a major 1991 abortion case. If they determine that his judicial record or his answers to questions signal a willingness to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion, they will fall under heavy pressure to oppose him, said congressional scholars and analysts.

With Republicans holding 55 of the Senate's 100 seats -- and with Democrats raising the possibility of a filibuster, in which 41 senators could prevent a confirmation vote -- Alito can withstand few Republican defections if Democrats solidly oppose him. That is by no means certain, experts note, but it is possible.

"I think the moderate, or pro-choice, Republicans will likely determine the fate of this nomination," said University of North Carolina law professor Michael Gerhardt, a constitutional expert.

Julian E. Zelizer, a Boston University history professor who has written extensively on Congress, agreed. "This nomination is going to put pro-choice Republican senators in an extremely uncomfortable position," he said. "The reality is that most Republicans who are not strong pro-life advocates were much happier when the abortion issue was not on the front pages."

But Alito's nomination seems destined to put it there. In 1991, he was the lone dissenter in Planned Parenthood v. Casey , in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit struck down a Pennsylvania law that required a married woman to inform her husband before having an abortion.

[ken5050]

The article totally misses the key point. GOP
moderates" are free to vote against Alito, but the are not FREE, nor going, to vote to filabuster hum..

[Always Right]

McCain is a tier 2. McCain tends to be pro-life, just will to backstab.

[NatsFan]

We need to be active in contacting these people and letting them to know we want them to support Alito.