A major battle seemed inevitable by midday as a number of civil rights and womens’ rights groups vowed to defeat the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr., to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The NAACP is among the organizations that have declared that that they will not allow a conservative on such social issues to take the seat of moderate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Conservative organizations, with equal vigor, geared up in support.
Some Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), have threatened to oppose Alito, however. Immediately after the announcement, the liberal activist organization People for the American Way announced the launch of a “massive national effort” to prevent Alito’s confirmation.
Opponents are likely to focus on his opinions and dissents, most notably in the 1991 case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey .
In that case, Alito joined a Third Circuit panel in upholding most of a Pennsylvania law imposing numerous restrictions on women seeking abortions. The law, among other things, required physicians to advise women of the potential medical dangers of abortion and tell them of the alternatives available. It also imposed a 24-hour waiting period for abortions and barred minors from obtaining abortions without parental consent.
The panel, in that same ruling, struck down a single provision in the law requiring women to notify their husbands before they obtained an abortion. Alito dissented from that part of the decision.