Information AboutSamuel Alito |
Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr. (born April 1 , 1950 ) is an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court Of The United States . He was nominated to the post by President George W. Bush on October 31 , 2005 and confirmed by the United States Senate on January 31 , 2006 by a vote of 58-42, becoming the Court's 110th Justice. Prior to joining the Supreme Court , Alito served as a judge on the United States Court Of Appeals For The Third Circuit from 1990 to 2006. PERSONAL LIFE , Martha Alito (right), daughter Laura (left) and son Philip (center) look on as President Bush announces Samuel Alito's nomination on October 31, 2005]] Alito was born in . Alito attended Steinert High School in Hamilton Township, New Jersey and graduated from Princeton University 's Woodrow Wilson School Of Public And International Affairs with a Bachelor Of Arts in 1972 before attending Yale Law School , where he served as editor on the '' Yale Law Journal '' and earned a Juris Doctor in 1975. Alito's father, who is now deceased, was a high school teacher and then became the first Director of the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services, a position he held from 1952 to 1984. Alito's mother is a retired schoolteacher. Alito's sister, Rosemary, is regarded as one of New Jersey's top Employment Law yers. At Princeton, Alito led a student conference in 1971 called "The Boundaries of Privacy in American Society" which, among other things, supported curbs on domestic intelligence gathering, called for the legalization of Sodomy , and urged for an end to discrimination against Homosexuals in hiring by employers ( {Link without Title} ). During the conference, Alito stated that "no private sexual act between consenting adults should be forbidden." Alito was a member of the Concerned Alumni Of Princeton , which was formed in October 1972 at least in part to oppose Princeton's decisions regarding affirmative action. Apart from Alito's written 1985 statement of membership of CAP on a job application, which Alito says was truthful, there is no other documentation of Alito's involvement with or contributions in the group. Alito has cited the banning and subsequent treatment of ROTC by the university as his reason for belonging to CAP. While a sophomore at Princeton, Alito received the (low) lottery number of 32, in a Selective Service drawing on December 1, 1969. In 1970, he became a member of the school's Army ROTC program, attending a six-week basic summer camp that year at Fort Knox , Kentucky , in lieu of having been in ROTC during his first two years in college. Graduating in 1972, Alito left a sign of his lofty aspirations in his yearbook, which said that he hoped to "eventually warm a seat on the Supreme Court." He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Signal Corps after his graduation and assigned to the United States Army Reserve , one of nine in his class to receive a commission in the Reserve. Following his graduation from Yale Law School in 1975, he served on active duty from September to December 1975, while attending the Officer Basic Course for Signal Corps officers at Fort Gordon , Georgia . The remainder of his time in the Army was served in the inactive Reserves. He had the rank of Captain when he received an Honorable Discharge in 1980. {Link without Title} / {Link without Title} Since 1985, Alito has been married to the former Martha-Ann Bomgardner, once a law Librarian with family roots in Oklahoma . They live in West Caldwell, New Jersey and have two children: Philip and Laura. CAREER
Alito argued twelve cases before the Supreme Court for the federal government during his tenure as assistant to the Solicitor General. While serving as an attorney for New Jersey, he prosecuted many cases that involved Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime . {Link without Title} In his 1985 application for Deputy Assistant to the Attorney General, Alito espoused Conservative views, naming William F. Buckley, Jr. , the '' National Review '', Alexander Bickel , and Barry Goldwater 's 1964 Presidential Campaign as major influences. He also expressed concern about ). Alito was nominated by ). As a Third Circuit judge, his chambers were in Newark, New Jersey . As adjunct professor at ). NOMINATION TO U.S. SUPREME COURT See Also: Samuel Alito Supreme Court nomination On July 1 , 2005 , Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor sent a letter to President George W. Bush , announcing her retirement from the Supreme Court effective upon the confirmation of a successor. President Bush first nominated John Roberts to the vacancy; however, when Chief Justice Of The United States William Rehnquist died on September 3 , Bush withdrew Roberts' nomination to fill O'Connor's seat and instead nominated Roberts to the Chief Justiceship. President Bush next nominated Harriet Miers to replace O'Connor. However, Miers withdrew her acceptance of the nomination on October 27 after encountering widespread opposition. On October 31 , 2005 , President Bush announced that he was nominating Alito to O'Connor's seat, and he submitted the nomination to the Senate on November 10 , 2005 . Judge Alito was unanimously rated "well qualified" to fill the Associate Justice post by the American Bar Association 's Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary. The committee rates judges as "qualified," "not qualified," or "well qualified." {Link without Title} The ABA rating measures the professional qualifications of the nominee. CONFIRMATION HEARINGS Alito's confirmation hearing was held from Monday, January 9 , 2006 to Friday, January 13 . On Tuesday, January 24 , his nomination was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 10-8 party line vote. Debate on the nomination began in the full Senate on Wednesday, ). Four Democratic senators voted to confirm Alito's appointment: Robert Byrd (WV), Kent Conrad (ND), Tim Johnson (SD) and Ben Nelson (NE). One Republican, Lincoln Chafee (Rhode Island), voted against the appointment. Shortly after his confirmation, Alito was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr. in a private ceremony. A formal ceremony took place a day later. U.S. SUPREME COURT CAREER On February 1 , 2006 , in Alito's first decision sitting on the Supreme Court, he voted with the majority (6-3) to refuse Missouri 's request to vacate the Stay Of Execution issued by United States Court Of Appeals For The Eighth Circuit for death-row inmate Michael Taylor ; Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas were in favor of vacating the stay. Missouri had twice asked the justices to lift the stay and permit the execution. {Link without Title} By joining the court mid-term, Alito has not heard arguments for many cases which have yet to be decided. If there is a deadlock in a pending case, Alito may be asked to break the tie—requiring the court to rehear the case—or the tie could stand and the decision of the court below would be affirmed, but the decision would not become precedent. {Link without Title} Justice Alito delivered his first written opinion on May 1 , 2006 in the case ''Holmes v. South Carolina'', a death-penalty case regarding the Confrontation Clause . Alito wrote for an unanimous court in ordering a new trial for Bobby Lee Holmes due to South Carolina's Exclusionary Rule prohibiting him from presenting the jury at his trial with witnesses who identified another man, Jimmy McCaw White, as having committed the burglary, rape, and murder of which Holmes has been accused. {Link without Title} CIRCUIT COURT CASE HISTORY The following is a short overview of some of the more notable opinions that Alito has authored: Federalism
First Amendment
Harassment and discrimination
Other decisions
RELATED DOCUMENTS
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Those who compare Alito's ideology to that of conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia nicknamed him "Scalito" (a Portmanteau of "Scalia" and "Alito" that appears to have originated in a 1992 '' National Law Journal '' article). The National Italian American Foundation , a bipartisan organization that has supported Nancy Pelosi has stated the use of the "Scalito" nickname "marginalizes [Alito's outstanding record." [http://www.niaf.org/news/index.asp?id=418]. Alito is the eleventh . He is a member in good standing of the Federalist Society , a group of conservatives and Libertarian s dedicated to "reforming the current legal order." SEE ALSO NOTES |
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