| New nominee nicknamed scalito or little scalia { October 31 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/31/AR2005103100227.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/31/AR2005103100227.html
Samuel A. Alito Jr. Profile
Compiled by washingtonpost.com Monday, October 31, 2005; 6:24 AM
Samuel A. Alito Jr., 55, is a jurist in the mold of Justice Antonin Scalia. Nicknamed "Scalito," or "little Scalia," by some lawyers, the federal appeals court judge is a frequent dissenter with a reputation for having one of the sharpest conservative minds in the country.
Educated at Princeton University and Yale Law School, Alito was nominated by President George H.W. Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in 1990. He had worked for the Justice Department in the Reagan administration and served as U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey.
In 1991, he was the lone dissenter in a 3rd Circuit decision striking down a Pennsylvania law's requirement that women tell their husbands before having an abortion. Alito also wrote a 1997 ruling that Jersey City officials did not violate the Constitution with a holiday display that included a creche, a menorah and secular symbols of the Christmas season.
Three years ago Alito drew conflict-of-interest accusations after he upheld a lower court's dismissal of a lawsuit against the Vanguard Group. Alito had hundreds of thousands of dollars invested with the mutual fund company at the time. He denied doing anything improper but recused himself from further involvement in the case.
-- By Washington Post Staff Writer Christopher Lee
Key Documents:
Shore Regional High School Board of Education v. P.S., on Behalf of P.S. (Aug. 20, 2004). Alito rules in favor of a complaint brought under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act by a boy badly bullied by his classmates who was seeking legal relief but had been rebuffed by a U.S. District Court.
Ronald A. Williams v. Price, Fisher (Sept. 9, 2003). Authors a majority opinion granting federal court review to an African American who could not get state courts to hear his claim of racial bias on the part of a juror in his trial.
Sheridan v. Dupont (May 4, 1995). Dissents and argues that the Third Circuit had made it too easy for discrimination complaints to reach a jury trial.
ACLU v. Schundler (Aug. 6, 1998). Holds that Jersey City, NJ's holiday display that included a creche and menorah did not violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment because it included secular symbols such as Frosty the Snowman.
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