Archive: Alito Background and Resources
Yale Law Students Assess Alito Opinions
The "Alito Project" at the Yale Law School conducted a review of Judge Alito's published opinions over his fifteen years on the bench. The report is available here. The summary of the conclusion is below: Our review indicates that when confronted with situations where statutory language and controlling precedent are clear, Judge Alito defers to settled law.However, in many cases Judge Alito has had more latitude to decide questions where statutory language is ambiguous, precedents are in conflict, or the Supreme Court has not issued a controlling decision. These opinions are especially significant because they provide more insight into Judge Alito's own judicial philosophy and because it inevitably falls to the Supreme Court to decide closely contested issues. From these cases, we identified several trends in Judge Alito's judicial approach: he rules in favor of institutional actors and defers to agency decisions in many settings while showing skepticism toward individual...
By Fred Barbash | December 20, 2005; 07:02 PM ET | Email a Comment
Alito Resource
FindLaw has a useful list of Alito opinions and dissents with short summaries.Click here to access it....
By Fred Barbash | November 17, 2005; 07:29 AM ET | Email a Comment
American Prospect on Alito's Federalism
American Prospect "Gunning For Congress: Samuel Alito's federalist bent makes John Roberts look like a moderate." By Simon Lazarus and Lauren Saunders...
By Fred Barbash | November 15, 2005; 07:11 PM ET | Comments (1)
Transcripts of All Recent Nomination Hearings
Transcripts of the hearings for Justices O'Connor through Roberts are available here: United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Supreme Court Nomination Hearings (1975 - forward)...
By Fred Barbash | November 11, 2005; 05:19 PM ET | Email a Comment
ACS Alito Panel Discussion
On Nov. 3, the American Constitution Society held a panel discussion on the Alito nomination featuring Marcia Greenberger, Ralph Neas, Nancy Zirkin and Bruce Fein. You can read a transcript or listen here....
By Fred Barbash | November 8, 2005; 06:30 PM ET | Email a Comment
Alito and First Amendment
The First Amendment Center features an online symposium on Alito's First Amendment cases. Click here to see it....
By Fred Barbash | November 8, 2005; 06:27 PM ET | Email a Comment
Alito Appeals Court Confirmation Hearing Record
Click here to see the record from Alito's 3rd Circuit confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. It includes his personal statement detailing the cases he briefed and argued as an assistant solicitor general as well as his views on "judicial activism."...
By Fred Barbash | November 4, 2005; 11:50 AM ET | Comments (1)
Alito's 1974 Yale Law Journal note
To read Alito's 1974 Yale Law Journal note "The Released Time Cases Revisited: A Study of Group Decisionmaking by the Supreme Court," click here. Readers of Supreme Court decisions, he concludes in the note, "should be very hesitant about attempting to discern the Justices' motivations from the written opinions."...
By Fred Barbash | November 4, 2005; 04:02 AM ET | Comments (4)
