The Cool Fervor of Judge Alito

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His answer to that essay test suggests a paradox that may play out on Capitol Hill as the Judiciary Committee opens hearings for a Supreme Court nominee for the second time in five months—after nearly a dozen years with none at all. Supporters and former clerks affectionately describe Alito as nerdy—more academic but also less polished than John Roberts, who addressed the committee without notes on his way to confirmation in September as Chief Justice. Yet Administration officials say they are certain that Alito will attract fewer votes—in the committee and later in the Senate—than did Roberts, whose golden résumé and limited paper trail thwarted Democrats' putative attack plans. Party leaders say they are determined not to give Bush's new nominee as easy a time. Alito would replace Sandra Day O'Connor, whose views have often decided key issues like affirmative action, late-term abortion and death-penalty cases in ways that Democrats have supported. They fear Alito's won't.

That political dynamic has left the nominee's longtime friends and colleagues scratching their heads; the Alito they are reading about bears little resemblance to the conservative yet cautious man they know. "He's careful, he's methodical, he's no maverick or extremist," says Susan L. Sullivan, a legal consultant in San Francisco and self-described liberal Democrat who clerked for Alito in 1990 and '91. Sullivan thinks opponents are "cherry-picking decisions." But that is standard procedure for any confirmation fight. And Lawrence Lustberg, a New Jersey defense lawyer who has known Alito for decades and likes him personally, says the nominee would certainly move the court to the right on a wide range of issues. Mark Tushnet, a constitutional-law professor at Georgetown University, says he takes his cues from the enthusiasm of Alito's conservative supporters, and if he's not one of them, they have been "hoodwinked." Says Tushnet. "Roberts is smoother. Alito is more rough-edged, and you can see the conservatism more clearly."