109th Congress / Senate / 2nd session / Vote 2

• Question: On the Nomination
• Category: Nomination
• Vote description: Confirmation Samuel A. Alito, Jr., of New Jersey, to be an Associate Justice
• Vote type: 1/2 (Help)
  A simple majority of those present and voting is required for approval or passage.
• Result: Confirmed, 58-42.
• Date/time: January 31, 2006, 11:01 a.m.
• Republican majority opinion: Yes (Help)
  The position of more than 50 percent of voting Republicans. "None" means an equal split between "Yes" and "No."
• Democrat majority opinion: No (Help)
  The position of more than 50 percent of voting Democrats. "None" means an equal split between "Yes" and "No."

Key Vote Analysis

In October 2005 President Bush nominated Samuel A. Alito Jr., then a federal judge on the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court. Alito was a replacement choice after conservative criticism led Bush's first choice for the seat, White House Counsel Harriet Miers, to withdraw her nomination.

Alito was seen as more likely than Miers to satisfy Bush's conservative base, which he did. The federal judge's 15 years on the bench produced a solidly conservative record. Like President Bush's other Supreme Court nominee, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., Judge Alito asserted that his record represented a restrained judicial philosophy, consistent with what he said is the proper role of the judiciary in the U.S. legal system. His record prompted opposition from Senate Democrats, who criticized his legal writings on abortion rights and expanded presidential authority as well as his past membership in a controversial Princeton alumni group. Only four Democrats voted for Alito's confirmation.

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