The nominee is Sam "Scalia Lite" Alito

The announcement has come. As was expected by many (including a prediction by yours truly) Bush has picked a fire and brimstone conservative with hefty court credentials in his hasty retreat from the Miers nomination debacle. Samuel Alito is the next pick, and I think there's a fair chance that you're going to witness the long awaited "nuclear option" showdown in the Senate over this one. Alito's background includes:

• Degrees from Princeton and Yale
• Nearly fifteen years on the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals bench
• Worked as deputy assistant US Attorney General
• Clerked for the 3rd circuit court

Think Progress has had a laundry list of complaints about Alito ready in case he was the nominee. Personally, I will want some more time to read the details on all of the cases they are citing, but some of them seem a bit alarmist while others provide justifiable grounds for concern. Here's the short version, but you can click over to their site for full details and precedent references.

• would overturn Roe v. Wade
• would allow race based discrimination
• would allow disability based discrimination
• would strike down the family and medical leave act
• supports unauthorized strip searches
• hostile towards immigrants

The first one will likely raise the most hackles, but I'm not sure how solid the charge is. Don't get me wrong... as a conservative of that lineage, Alito may well harbor a deep seated hatred of Abortion and Roe v. Wade, but the single case we have to go on is his dissent in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a 1991 Pennsylvania case regarding a spousal notification law. His decision can be read here. This wasn't a ruling which sought to overturn Roe v. Wade, nor does it even seem to discuss the legality of abortion in and of itself. His ruling appears to state that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania did not have the right to make that particular ruling, and that the tiny fraction of women to whom this law would apply - married women seeking an abortion over the opposition of their husbands - would have protections provided for them where needed. Please see this write-up from Patterico's Pontifications (warning: right wing neocon content on that site, but some hard, fact based information on this particular case) for details of the difference between "wants to overturn Roe v. Wade" and the Casey case.

The other issues raised by Think Progress are very likely stated in a bit too dramatic or provocative fashion, but they do highlight some very troubling opinions written by Alito. The fact that he is variously nicknamed "Scalito" or "Scalia Lite" should be enough to give any progressive pause. Look for a hard nomination fight on this one.

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