Rose Alito, the mother of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, told the Associated Press that “of course” her son is “against abortion.” But you don’t need to get this from his mother. Reading between the lines, Alito has done the most he could do as an appellate judge who had to follow Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade to restrict abortion rights.
As a judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Samuel Alito, President Bush’s nominee to the Supreme Court, was the lone dissenter in a 1991 case arguing that it is constitutional to force women to notify their husbands before obtaining an abortion. In a so-called partial-birth abortion ban case in New Jersey, he did not join the majority opinion overturning the law; rather, he wrote a concurring opinion simply stating he had to follow Supreme Court precedent.
Opposition to Alito is growing. In addition to the Feminist Majority, at least ten major progressive groups are opposing Alito: Alliance for Justice, Moveon.org, National Abortion Federation, NARAL Pro Choice America, National Council of Jewish Women, National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, National Organization for Women (NOW), People for the American Way, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
TAKE ACTION Tell Your Senators to Vote “NO” on Alito
