A RNC Conference Call On Alito

by John Hawkins | November 18, 2005 4:22 pm

There was another Alito conference call today and this one featured former Senator Dan Coats, who is out introducing Alito to Senators up on Capitol Hill.

This time around, there didn’t appear to be an overriding theme to the Conference Call. They just wanted to let us know that they didn’t think there would be a filibuster, Alito has done an extraordinary number of visits already (more than 60), that Alito should get the same fair treatment that Ruth Ginsberg did, and that we should look out for liberal groups trying to smear Alito (no big shocker there).

In general, Coats did a good job of answering people’s questions and he answered mine as well.

My question was:

“Judge Alito said he thought there was no right to abortion in the Constitution back in 1985[1], which was right and correct, in my opinion. However, since there have been some rulings on abortion since then, like Planned Parenthood vs. Casey, wouldn’t it be entirely appropriate for Judge Alito to still cite the Ginsberg Precedent and refuse to say how he will rule on abortion and Roe v. Wade because of those other cases?”

Coats said that the Ginsberg Precedent still stands and that Alito will not be answering how he would rule on Roe V. Wade, although he may talk a little more about precedent and Stare decisis.

The message I took out of what Coats said was don’t be alarmed if he starts talking a lot about the importance of precedent when it comes to abortion. That’s something he may have to do more of because of that letter, but it doesn’t mean he won’t rule against Roe v. Wade when the time comes.