Roe v. Wade Watch: Alito Downplays 1985 Abortion Statement
Judge Samuel Alito, left, President Bush’s nominee to join the Supreme Court, meets with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in her Capitol Hill office, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2005. Documents released Monday show Alito in 1985 telling the Reagan administration he was particularly proud to help argue that ‘the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion,’ a statement senators want to know more about before voting on his candidacy for the Supreme Court. Feinstein is the only woman on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The ASSociated Press Alito Downplays 1985 Abortion Statement
Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito distanced himself Tuesday from his 1985 comments that there was no constitutional right to abortion, telling a senator in private that he had merely been “an advocate seeking a job.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., an abortion rights supporter and the only woman on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said she asked the conservative judge about a document released Monday showing Alito in 1985 telling the Reagan administration he was particularly proud to help argue that “the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.”
“He said first of all it was different then,” she said. “He said, ‘I was an advocate seeking a job, it was a political job and that was I’m now a judge, I’ve been on the circuit court for 15 years and it’s very different. I’m not an advocate, I don’t give heed to my personal views, what I do is interpret the law.”