Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito picked up two new Democratic supporters alongside liberal critics Thursday, and Republicans began calling for the Senate to end its debate and vote to confirm him.
"Senate Democrats should stop their foot-dragging on the vote for Judge Alito to become Justice Alito," said Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee. Democrats Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Tim Johnson of South Dakota announced their support for the conservative judge.
The New Jersey jurist's confirmation as the nation's 110th justice is assured, with all of the 55 Republicans except Olympia Snowe of Maine, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Ted Stevens of Alaska having announced their support. In addition, Democrats Byrd, Johnson and Ben Nelson of Nebraska also are voting for him to be the replacement for the moderate Sandra Day O'Connor on the nine-member Supreme Court.
"My considered judgment from his record, from his answers to my questions, and from his obvious intelligence and sincerity, leads me to believe him to be an honorable man who loves his country, loves his Constitution and will give of his best. Can we really ask for more?" said Byrd, the senior Democrat in the 100-member Senate.
Byrd, Nelson, Johnson and other Democratic senators are calling for their party not to filibuster, the only weapon the minority party has left to try and stop Alito.
Democrats have not agreed to a time for a final vote, although Republicans are pushing for the 55-year-old judge from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to be confirmed before Bush's State of the Union on Tuesday. Aides are discussing holding a test vote on Monday with a final vote possibly on Tuesday.
Alito "understands the role of a judge is not to advance a personal and political agenda," President Bush said Thursday at the White House. "He is a decent man. He's got a lot of experience and he deserves an up-or-down vote in the Senate."
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