[JURIST] Members of the US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] will continue their questioning of Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito [official profile; JURIST news archive] into the fourth day of his confirmation hearings Thursday following Wednesday testimony dominated by questions concerning abortion and Alito's membership in a controversial Princeton alumni association. Alito was pressed on his refusal to disavow a 1985 memo where he wrote "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion." Alito did not comment on how he would rule on abortion cases, and though he has refused to call Roe v. Wade "settled law" as Chief Justice John Roberts did during his confirmation hearings in September, Alito has promised to view the issue with an "open mind" [JURIST report]. Alito claimed to have no recollection of involvement with the Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP) [Wikipedia backgrounder], a group which previously voiced its opposition to admitting additional women and minorities to the university, even though he listed CAP as a reference on a 1985 job application with the Reagan Administration. He nonetheless denounced as offensive an article written by CAP in 1983 which stated, "People nowadays just don't seem to know their place. Everywhere one turns, blacks and Hispanics are demanding jobs simply because they're black and Hispanic…Homosexuals are demanding the government vouchsafe them the right to bear children…And now come women." At the request of Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) [official website; press release on Alito and CAP], members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will be seeking records and press coverage of the group from the Library of Congress [official website]. The Washington Post has more. VOA has additional coverage.

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