Judges' endorsements may be Alito conflict
LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Seven appellate judges who have worked with Samuel Alito told the Senate Judiciary Committee he would make an independent and ethical Supreme Court justice if confirmed - endorsements that some Democrats say pose a potential conflict of interest.
"I think it may raise something of an ethical issue for you," Democrat Russell Feingold of Wisconsin told Alito. "Will you have to recuse yourself from any case where one of these judges was involved in" a decision appealed to the Supreme Court?
Alito demurred.
"That's not a question that I've given any thought to before this minute, senator, so I don't know that I could answer it and I would want to answer any recusal question very carefully," he said.
Majority Republicans on the Judiciary Committee swiftly handed out a fact sheet making the case that it's common for judges to testify at confirmation hearings. Judges from appellate and district courts have testified at confirmation hearings for Justice Clarence Thomas and the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist. In 1986, Chief Justice Warren Burger testified on behalf of Reagan appointee Robert Bork, whose nomination was rejected by the Senate.
Judiciary Committee Democrats, arguing that the testimony is improper, pointed out a quote from the judicial code of ethics: "A judge shall not testify as a character witness."
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