A 1985 memo in which Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito suggested that the Justice Department try to chip away at abortion rights has reignited a battle over what documents should be available to senators as they evaluate judicial candidates. "This information reinforces the need for the Senate to obtain all relevant information about this nominee, including his other solicitor general memos and his work in the Office of Legal Counsel," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who has been fighting with the White House for greater access to nominees' documents for years.
Republicans argue that Democrats are just looking for a way to block President Bush's conservative nominees from being approved by the GOP- controlled Senate.
The questions "disturbingly seem to be suggesting that some Democrats are ready to implement a strategy ... that they would obstruct the Roberts nomination and later nominations by claiming that they didn't have sufficient access to documents," White House spokesman Steve Schmidt said.
The administration refused to permit the release of similar documents during Chief Justice John Roberts' confirmation, and Schmidt said, "The rest of Alito's internal solicitor general's documents are still privileged and will not be released."
The abortion memo, written while Alito was working for the solicitor general's office, was released Wednesday by the National Archives.
In the May 30, 1985, memo, Alito recommended the Justice Department weigh in on state-level cases seeking abortion restrictions instead of attacking the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion ruling. This approach was "free of the disadvantages that would accompany a major effort to overturn Roe. When the court hands down its decision and Roe is not overruled, the decision will not be portrayed as a stinging rebuke," he wrote.
"No one seriously believes that the court is about to overrule Roe v. Wade," Alito wrote. Referring to a high court decision to review two abortion-related cases, he asked, "What can be made of this opportunity to advance the goals of bringing about the eventual overruling ... and in the meantime, of mitigating its effects?"
At the Justice Department, Assistant Attorney General Rachel Brand said, "Nothing in that memo indicates how he'd rule as a judge on abortion cases."
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