WASHINGTON – Judge Samuel Alito, President’s Bush’s nominee to the Supreme Court, is expected to clear his first congressional hurdle today when the Senate Judiciary Committee votes to recommend his confirmation – setting the stage for consideration in the full Senate as early as this week.
Each vote is expected to divide largely along party lines. The Judiciary Committee’s 10 Republicans are likely to vote to support the federal appeals judge, while the panel’s eight Democrats appear likely to oppose him.
As the full Senate prepares to consider the nomination, advocacy groups on both sides are conducting ad campaigns in an effort to move a few votes one way or the other – although confirmation appears all but certain.
In the past, a party-line vote in committee was seen as a signal of a possible filibuster, the only means by which minority Democrats could block confirmation in the Republican-controlled chamber. However, Democrats have indicated that they are unlikely to resort to a filibuster to block Alito.
Only a simple majority of the Senate’s 100 votes is required for confirmation, and Republicans hold 55 seats. At least three Republicans appear be considering a negative vote: Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both from Maine, and Lincoln Chafee, from Rhode Island.
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., under pressure from the White House, is pushing to hold a confirmation vote on or before Jan. 31, when President Bush is expected to deliver his annual State of the Union address.
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