January 31, 2006
Alito Becomes 110th Supreme Court Justice
Samuel Alito was sworn in as the 110th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, hours after one of the most divided Senate confirmation votes in modern history.

January 27, 2006
Judge Edges Closer to Confirmation
The prospects for the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito improved when three Democrats crossed the aisle to support his nomination. However, other Democrats led by Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts are calling for a filibuster. Kwame Holman reports on the Senate debate.

Update: Democratic Filibuster of Alito Nomination Seems Unlikely

January 24, 2006
Split Panel Passes Alito Nomination to Full Senate
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines Tuesday to approve Samuel Alito's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. Senate Republicans say Alito is the right person to sit on the high court. But Democrats contend the 55-year-old judge and former Reagan administration counsel will swing the court to the right and help overturn precedent-setting rulings, such as the abortion rights case Roe v. Wade.

January 19, 2006
Top Democrat on Judiciary Committee to Vote Against Alito
Sen. Patrick Leahy, ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Thursday that he would oppose the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"At a time when the president is seizing unprecedented power, the Supreme Court needs to act as a check and to provide balance," said Leahy in a speech at Georgetown University's law school on Thursday. "Based on the hearing and his record, I have no confidence that Judge Alito would provide that check and balance."

Most of the other Democrats in the Senate appear certain to vote against President Bush's choice. Only one of the Senate's 44 Democrats, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, has publicly announced he will vote in favor of the nominee.

January 13, 2006
Democrats, Republicans Remain Split Following Alito Hearings
Despite more than 500 questions and 18 hours of testimony, Democrats appeared unlikely to stop the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court and expressed frustration with the lack of clear responses from the judge. Columnists Mark Shields and David Brooks assess the political landscape in the wake of the Alito hearings and the threat of a Democratic filibuster.

January 12, 2006
Senators Complete Questioning of Alito, Focus on Legal Philosophy
Grueling questioning of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito ended after three days Thursday, even as few senators expressed any change in their positions as a result of the judge's responses.

"Many people will leave this hearing with a question as to whether or not you could be the deciding vote that would eliminate the legality of abortion," Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said.

Two legal scholars weigh Alito's performance and whether new information about the nominee was revealed through the confirmation process.

Fourth Day of Hearings
RealAudio: Syndicated columnist Mark Shields, National Review editor Ramesh Ponnuru, the National Law Journal's Marcia Coyle and Chicago Tribune's Jan Crawford Greenburg consider the apparent softening of the Democrats' questioning of Alito.

RealAudio: Shields, Ponnuru, Coyle and Greenburg assess Alito and the Democrats' performances as well as comment on what is known about how the judge may rule in abortion and executive power cases.

January 11, 2006
Democrats Express Frustration as Alito Questioning Enters Second Round
Democratic senators on the Judiciary Committee expressed frustration with the lack of specific answers they had elicited from Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, saying Americans deserved to know more about the judge's judicial philosophy and positions.

Ray Suarez reviews the day with Ted Olson, former solicitor general of the United States under President Bush, and Dawn Johnsen, professor at Indiana University School of Law at Bloomington and former acting head of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Clinton administration.

Third Day of Hearings
RealAudio: Syndicated columnist Mark Shields, National Review editor Ramesh Ponnuru, the National Law Journal's Marcia Coyle and Chicago Tribune's Jan Crawford Greenburg analyze how Alito has handled the end of the first round of questioning.

RealAudio: Shields, Ponnuru, Coyle and Greenburg react to an increasingly stormy second round of questions that have focused on Alito's pledge to recuse himself from cases involving an investment firm he was involved with and his role in a controversial Princeton alumni group.

January 10-11, 2006

January 10, 2006
Senators Question Alito on Abortion, Executive Powers
Senators on the Judiciary Committee pressed Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito for details about his past rulings on abortion, opinions on domestic surveillance and other issues during their first round of questioning Tuesday.

Ray Suarez speaks with court watchers Jeffrey Rosen, a law professor at George Washington University and legal affairs editor for the New Republic, and Stuart Taylor, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and columnist for the National Journal, about the confirmation hearings.

Second Day of Hearings
RealAudio: Columnist Mark Shields, editor Ramesh Ponnuru, the National Law Journal's Marcia Coyle and the Chicago Tribune's Jan Crawford Greenburg join Jim Lehrer to discuss the first round of questioning and the effectiveness of Alito's responses.

RealAudio: Shields, Ponnuru, Coyle and Greenburg analyze how Alito defended himself against tough questions from Democratic Sens. Edward Kennedy, Mass., and Joseph Biden, Del.

RealAudio: NewsHour guests continue their analysis as they consider Alito's responses to questions from Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., And Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and how Alito's style differs from that of recently confirmed Chief Justice John Roberts.

January 9, 2006
Senate Weighs Alito Nomination as Supreme Court Justice
The Senate Judiciary Committee began hearings Monday on whether Judge Samuel Alito Jr. should become the nation's 110th Supreme Court justice. In their opening statements, Democrats vowed to question the nominee on issues including constitutional powers, abortion and the right to privacy, while Republicans praised President Bush's pick as fair-minded.

Ray Suarez discusses the issues raised during the senators' opening statements with constitutional law scholars Stanford professor Kathleen Sullivan and Bruce Fein, former associate deputy attorney general during the Reagan administration.

First Day of Hearings
RealAudio: Judge Samuel Alito discusses his road to the confirmation hearing in his opening statement.

RealAudio: Columnist Mark Shields, editor Ramesh Ponnuru and the National Law Journal's Marcia Coyle outline the stakes in the hearing.

RealAudio: Shields, Ponnuru and Coyle, joined by the Chicago Tribune's Jan Crawford Greenburg, reflect on how the opening statements from Alito's hearing differed from those in Chief Justice John Roberts' confirmation.

RealAudio: Experts return to react to Alito's personal comments and what the first day heralds for the week ahead.

December 28, 2005
Alito Writings Fuel Debate over High Court Nomination
A new batch of papers from Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito was released by the National Archives on Wednesday, including a 1981 memo recommending a Black Panther Party lawsuit not be appealed to the Supreme Court. The new files are likely to further fuel a heated legal debate over what the wide-ranging documents reveal about the potential Supreme Court justice.

Ray Suarez discusses what clues have been revealed about Alito's judicial philosophy with Jeffrey Rosen, law professor at George Washington University and legal affairs editor for the New Republic, and Stuart Taylor, columnist for National Journal and fellow at the Brookings Institute.

December 23, 2005
Alito Papers Reveal Strategy for Defending Warrantless Wiretaps
As a Justice Department lawyer in the 1980s, Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito argued that executive branch officials should not be held liable if they ordered wiretaps without obtaining warrants, according to documents released by the National Archives on Friday.

December 1, 2005
Alito Papers Reveal Strategy for Curbing Abortion Rights
Papers released from the National Archives show that when Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito was assistant solicitor general in the Reagan administration, he outlined a strategy for effectively overturning the landmark abortion rights decision, Roe v. Wade.

November 30, 2005
Alito Returns Senate Questionnaire; Old Papers Touch on Abortion Issue
Judge Samuel Alito submitted a 64-page answer to questions posed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday in which he said judges should take a limited, "self-disciplined" approach when considering cases.

November 4, 2005
Senate Judiciary Committee Schedules Alito Hearings for Jan. 9
The head of the Judiciary Committee announced Thursday that hearings on Judge Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court will begin at noon on January 9th with opening statements from the senators and the nominee.

November 1, 2005
Senators Weigh Legal Philosophy of Samuel Alito
A day after President Bush tapped him for the Supreme Court, Judge Samuel Alito met with key senators who will consider his nomination.

Republican Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio and Senate Judiciary Committee member Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., discuss the nomination.

October 31, 2005
Alito Judicial Record Points to Limited, Conservative Approach
Samuel Alito, with 15 years on the federal bench and a dozen more as a public official, has developed a long list of judicial decisions that outline a conservative philosophy and a high level of judicial restraint.

Although Alito has issued more than 300 decisions and participated in more than 3,000 cases, there are a handful of decisions that likely will be under the microscope when the Senate Judiciary Committee opens hearings on his nomination.

Douglas Kmiec, professor of constitutional law at Pepperdine University Law School, and Pam Karlan, professor of public interest law at Stanford Law School, react to the nomination and what is known about Alito's constitutional philosophy.

Transcript: Jeffrey Brown reports on the president's announcement and reaction from Capitol Hill.

October 31, 2005
President Bush Taps Strong Conservative to High Court
Less than a week after his first choice for the Supreme Court bowed out due to Republican opposition, President Bush nominated noted conservative federal appeals Judge Samuel Alito to replace Sandra Day O'Connor.

Alito, a 55 year old who has served 15 years on the federal appeals court in Philadelphia, has a lengthy resume as a judge and prosecutor that supporters say makes him an ideal candidate.

"Judge Alito has a strong judicial track record," said Republican consultant Greg Mueller, who works closely with conservative activists. "He has more experience than many who have come to the court."

Although the nomination was likely to unify many in the Republican Party who had split with the White House over the Harriet Miers nomination, Democrats warned that they would oppose Alito as too conservative for the high court.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Sunday that Alito's nomination would "create a lot of problems."

Full Text: President Bush announces Judge Alito's nomination.

October 27, 2005
Senators Blame Conservative Opposition for Miers Withdrawal
With growing opposition among the conservative ranks of senators and continuing calls for more documents from her time as White House counsel, Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination to the Supreme Court Thursday. The move, seen as a defeat to the Bush administration, was hailed by conservative Republican activists.

Two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., discuss the announcement and the coming fight over the next nominee.

RealAudio: Columnists Mark Shields and David Brooks and Chicago Tribune correspondent Jan Crawford Greenburg assess the ramifications of the withdrawal.

Update: With Support Flagging, Miers Withdraws as Supreme Court Nominee

Document: President Bush's statement on Harriet Miers' withdrawal