Group says nominee for Supreme Court is well-qualified

07:30 PM CST on Wednesday, January 4, 2006

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Judge Samuel Alito on Wednesday gained the American Bar Association's highest rating for a Supreme Court nominee, giving him a boost before next week's Senate confirmation hearings.

Interest groups now will try to help or hinder Judge Alito's chances by spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on television, radio and Internet ads nationwide and in the states of key senators, before and during the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearings.

This is the second time the ABA, the nation's largest lawyers' organization, has rated Judge Alito, who was nominated by President Bush on Oct. 31 as the replacement for retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

The "well qualified" rating – the highest – is the same one that he earned in 1990 when President Bush's father nominated him to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Embracing the latest rating, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "Leading Senate Democrats have said in the past that the ABA is the – quote – gold standard for evaluating judicial nominees."

Democrats, the Senate's minority party, contend Judge Alito is too conservative and could undermine abortion rights – a pivotal issue before the Supreme Court. They are expected to be the jurist's toughest questioners at the hearings that begin Monday.

"The ABA ratings do not take into account whether a judge's judicial philosophy and views are in or out of the broad mainstream," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

The ABA's Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary came up with the rating after confidential interviews with hundreds of Judge Alito's colleagues and a review of his writings.