Voting Cases Could Shape Debate Over Alito

[Wilms]

Voting Cases Could Shape Debate Over Alito

Court Nominee's Views On Warren-Era Reapportionment Decisions Puzzle Some Scholars

By JESS BRAVIN

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

November 21, 2005; Page A4

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." The first two areas -- where a liberal Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren imposed rules to deter police misconduct and struck down state-directed prayers -- are familiar targets of conservatives.

But reapportionment is a chapter of Warren Court jurisprudence rarely disputed since the 1960s, when Southern states fought decisions that effectively ended rules that had diluted the voting power of African-Americans. Now legal scholars are puzzling over what Judge Alito, President Bush's choice to succeed retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, meant in disagreeing with cases that enforced the doctrine of "one person, one vote" as the basic structure for American elections.

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Yesterday, 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."

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. Assistant Attorney General Rachel Brand, speaking for the Bush administration, emphasizes that Judge Alito's statement didn't specifically dispute the "one person, one vote" doctrine.

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