Executive Session

EXECUTIVE SESSION

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise this morning in support of the nomination of Samuel Alito to the position of Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. I have had an opportunity over the past couple of days, and certainly in this past hour, sitting in the chair as you are, Mr. President, to listen to the discussions on both sides of the aisle about the nominee before us, Judge Alito. I have been listening very carefully to the comments that have been made and the discussion of certain issues. But when it comes to the issue of Judge Alito's credentials, I do not hear a debate about them. I do not hear a hue and cry that this is a man who does not have the credentials to serve in the U.S. Supreme Court. I believe, and I believe many of my colleagues would agree, that Judge Alito's credentials are exemplary. No President should be denied the prerogative of appointing a person who is as qualified as Judge Alito to the Court.

Judge Alito, after 3 very long days of responding to over 700 questions, emerged from these nomination hearings the same person who many of us who met with him understood him to be--quite simply, a seasoned jurist who has the intellect, the temperament, and the reverence for the law which is required for service on the Nation's highest Court. So it is not surprising that Judge Alito has received the American Bar Association's highest rating for any nominee. It was a unanimous ``well qualified'' rating.

For those who are not familiar with how the American Bar Association scores or does the rating of the judges, the criteria that are looked to are criteria such as the judicial qualifications--the resume, the credentials; whether or not the individuals have presented themselves or conducted themselves free from bias, operating in a fair and impartial manner as a fair and impartial decisionmaker; and also looking to judicial temperament.

The bar association, through its rating process, couldn't keep a scorecard as to whether the individual has ruled more times in favor of the big guy over the little guy. It is a process where truly judicial temperament, the qualification, the credentials, and the free-from-bias and fair decision-making, is the criteria that is looked at.

We have heard over the course of days and in the committee hearings about Samuel Alito's background. He has a very moving and a very American personal story. Born to immigrant parents, Judge Alito is probably the first one to say that the person he admires most is his father--his father who battled barriers of prejudice until he became both a teacher and the first director of the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services.

Judge Alito excelled at his studies. He received degrees from two Ivy League institutions. But I sense--I certainly picked this up in my meeting with him--that Judge Alito is not one to forget where he came from or forget his modest roots.

His testimony in the hearings was unassuming, unpretentious. He thoughtfully listened, and I believe sincerely responded, to the committee's questions, recognizing that there are certain limitations in terms of predicting outcomes or sticking to the issues that might be before the Court should he be confirmed.

By all accounts, including those of many Democrats who have served with him, Judge Alito scrupulously lets the facts and the law--the facts and the law, not the politics--dictate his decisions.

What struck me during the nomination process in the hearing was the testimony of so many of his colleagues--and not just Republican colleagues but a wide range of individuals, self-professed liberals, and conservatives--who all spoke very highly of and who acclaimed Judge Alito.

I would like to mention a couple of the comments that were made in the course of the testimony. The testimony of the Third Circuit Court's senior judge, Judge Aldisert, had this about Judge Alito:

We who have heard his probing questions during oral arguments, of being privy to his wise insightful comments in our private conferences; we who have observed at firsthand his impartial approach to decision-making and his thoughtful judicial temperament and know his carefully crafted opinions; we--who are his colleagues--are convinced that he will also be a great Justice.

Here is another statement from one of his colleagues, from Judge Edward Becker, who serves on the Third Circuit, and who sat with Judge Alito on over 1,000 cases. He described the judge as:

Brilliant ..... highly analytical, and meticulous and careful ..... The Sam Alito that I have sat with for fifteen years is not an ideologue. He is not a movement person. He is a real judge, deciding each case on the facts and the law, not on his personal views whatever they may be. He scrupulously adheres to precedent.

Still another colleague, Judge Leonard Garth, described him as ``an intellectually gifted and morally principled judge ..... he will always vote in accordance with the Constitution and laws as enacted by Congress.''

I believe these qualities are critical; for when Judge Alito is confirmed, as I believe he will be, he will have giant shoes to fill. The legacy that Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will leave is one of fair-mindedness, open-mindedness, and lack of an ideological agenda. Justice O'Connor once described her approach to cases in this way:

It cannot be too often stated that the greatest threats our constitutional freedom comes in times of crisis ..... The only way
for judges to mediate these conflicting impulses is to do what they should do anyway: stay close to the record in each case that appears before them, and make their judgments based on that alone.

Based on my conversations with Judge Alito, his testimony before the committee, and the statements of so many of his colleagues who know his work best, I am confident that Judge Alito will have that open- and fair-mindedness. He told the Judiciary Committee:

Good judges are always open to the possibility of changing their minds ..... Result-oriented jurisprudence is never justified because it is not our job as judges to try to produce particular results.

In his opening statement, Judge Alito recalled the oath that he made at the time he was sworn as a judge of the court of appeals. He stated that he would ``administer justice equally, both to the rich and the poor'' and that he would ``carry out the laws and the Constitution'' to the best of his ability.

I believe Samuel Alito has done that for nearly two decades as a Federal judge. I will certainly look to him to do that in his new role--again, without agenda, without prejudgment, without bias.

I join many of my colleagues on the Senate floor this morning in supporting the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court.

I yield the floor.

http://thomas.loc.gov/