On Monday, January 9, the Senate Judiciary Committee opened confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. Nancy Northup, President of the Center for Reproductive Rights issued this statement in response:

"As the Judiciary Committee embarks on its second Supreme Court hearings in a year, it is imperative that the Senators and American public recognize that there is no plausible reason for Judge Alito to refuse to answer questions regarding his view of the constitutional protections for reproductive rights and Roe v. Wade. "

"Judge Alito has written about these matters both in recent judicial opinions and during his career as a government attorney. His early writings suggest a disturbing approach to abortion jurisprudence and his judicial opinions, particularly his dissent in Planned Parenthood v. Casey on the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 1992, do nothing to indicate his judicial philosophy has changed. "

"In a 1985 job application, Judge Alito expressed his strong belief that ‘the Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion’ and in a 1985 memorandum, he recommended that the Reagan Administration adopt a strategy that would ‘advance the goals of bringing about the eventual overruling of Roe v. Wade, and in the meantime, of mitigating[ ] its effects.’ In his dissent in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Judge Alito argued for a legal standard that would have permitted almost any abortion regulation to stand. "

"Judge Alito must be asked to explain his judicial philosophy as expressed in these opinions and early writings and to fully disclose his views at the hearings. When it comes to clarifying his legal opinions on the constitutional protections for women’s most basic control over their lives and health—silence is neither golden, nor at all justified."