How Alito Looks Under the Lens

(5 of 5)

If confirmed, Alito would one day have an opportunity to weigh in on other much disputed issues, from affirmative action and campaign-finance reform to gay rights and state's rights. The last one may become an especially sensitive topic during his hearings. Since 1995 the Rehnquist Court has struck down, in whole or in part, more than 30 federal statutes, essentially arguing that Congress had overreached and such legislation should be left to the states. Alito's controversial dissent arguing to invalidate a federal law banning machine guns nationwide leads many Senators to suspect that he would try to further the trend. His reasoning, which laid out why Congress cannot use the commerce clause of the Constitution to ban the firearms, was eventually rejected by the Supreme Court. But his rationale could potentially be used to challenge Congress's power to regulate a whole range of areas, from the environment to civil rights to the workplace. And who knows? On Capitol Hill, that prospect alone could be enough to turn the mild-mannered Alito into the scene-stealing villain so many Democrats would just love to hate.