Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.,
Ranking Member, Judiciary Committee,
On Judge Alito’s Responses During Today’s
Supreme Court Nominations Hearing
January 10, 2006

“Judge Alito’s testimony today has raised many questions.  There has been vague, inconsistent, and at times, contradictory testimony to what his record shows and what his answers are today.

“I am troubled by these inconsistencies.  Fresh in our memories and experience is the example of the testimony of Chief Justice Roberts, whose consistent answers helped build a record that gave many of us who voted for him the confidence in his candidacy that we needed to have. 

“Judge Alito needs to do more than distance himself from his early, troubling writings and views – he needs to explain why his views are different today and that what he says is not simply the pledge of an eager applicant trying to win a job.”

# # # # #