Alito Described View on Abortion in '85 Document
In language certain to stoke heated debate at his January confirmation hearings, Mr. Alito, now President Bush's nominee for the Supreme Court, also expressed disapproval of Supreme Court decisions while Earl Warren was chief justice, including those that dealt with criminal procedures.
Mr. Alito, who was 35 in November 1985, when he made those statements in applying to become deputy assistant attorney general, said he was a committed conservative who had been influenced by the writings of William F. Buckley Jr. and Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign.
He said he had been honored to serve as assistant to the solicitor general "and to help to advance legal positions in which I personally believe very strongly."
"I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government has argued in the Supreme Court that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion," Mr. Alito, who is now a federal appeals court judge, wrote.
The statements, contained in a document made public today by the Reagan Presidential Library, after the contents were first reported by The Washington Times, is bound to stir interest when the Senate Judiciary Committee begins hearings on Judge Alito's nomination in January.