Meant to post this sooner, but the holiday got in the way. From
Monday's Wall Street Journal(subscription-only):
<< In his 1985 job application for the Reagan Justice Department, Samuel Alito asserted "disagreement with Warren Court decisions, particularly in the areas of criminal procedure, the Establishment Clause and reapportionment." ...Reapportionment is a chapter of Warren Court jurisprudence rarely disputed since the 1960s...
(On Sunday,) Sen. Joseph Biden (D., Del.) said that Judge Alito's observation on reapportionment cases markedly increased the odds of a filibuster. "The fact that he questioned abortion and the idea of quotas is one thing. The fact he questioned the idea of the legitimacy of the reapportionment decisions of the Warren Court is even something well beyond that," Mr. Biden told "Fox News Sunday." If Judge Alito truly doubts the "one person, one vote" doctrine, "clearly, you'll find a lot of people, including me, willing to do whatever they can to keep him off the court." >>
More from the article:
<< After the essay surfaced last week, Judge Alito distanced himself from it, telling senators he wrote it as a candidate seeking a job, and that it didn't necessarily reflect his judicial philosophy.
... It is hard to tell, from Judge Alito's 15 years on the federal bench, how he sees the issue as a judge, as few reapportionment cases have come before his Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. In 1993, he joined a unanimous opinion rejecting a challenge to a plan Pennsylvania Democrats used to retain control of the General Assembly by transplanting a friendly state senator into a new district across the state. Four years later, he joined a 2-1 majority that upheld at-large elections for a Delaware school board, despite claims that the system disadvantaged black voters. >>