New Alito Opposition Efforts Launched
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 1/4/2006
With Samuel Alito's confirmation hearings scheduled to begin next week, groups opposed to President Bush's nominee to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court are stepping up their efforts to inform the public about Alito's record.
IndependentCourt.org, a coalition of public interest organizations, launched a new 30-second television spot Wednesday focusing on the fact that as a federal judge, Alito has more than once broken promises he made to the Senate Judiciary Committee during his first confirmation process, giving several different excuses for his conduct once the broken pledge was revealed.
When nominated to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Alito said that he would not rule in cases involving two companies that handled his investments or in cases involving his sister's law firm. The ad points out, however, that court records show Alito's participation in such cases, despite his pledge to recuse himself.
The ad, which will run initially on cable news programs nationally and in Maine and Arkansas, asks: "Shouldn't we be able to trust Supreme Court nominees to keep their word?
In addition to the television ad buy, IndependentCourt.org will also begin running radio advertisements in Arkansas and Louisiana highlighting Alito's troubling record on civil rights. The radio ads will be unveiled at a press conference in Arkansas Wednesday.
"We need the Supreme Court to reject employment discrimination, to stand up against government and big business intrusions on our rights and privacy, to uphold the democratic principle of one person - one vote," said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. "Americans need to understand why so many people are asking whether Alito can be counted on to stand up for us."
IndependentCourt.org also announced Wednesday that it will kick-off two weeks of nationwide grassroots activity by delivering approximately one million anti-Alito petitions to Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Arlen Specter's Philadelphia office on Thursday, January 5. Pennsylvanians for a Fair and Independent Court will be joined at the Philadelphia event by Julian Bond, NAACP chairman of the board and Karen Pearl, interim president, Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Coalition affiliate networks in Arkansas, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, and Wisconsin will be hosting their own petition delivery events to urge their senators to oppose Samuel Alito's nomination.
