Liberals Can't Solidify Alito Opposition

From the Associated Press (via Yahoo):

WASHINGTON - So far this year, the civil rights and women's groups opposed to President Bush's conservative court nominees have been rebuffed, rebuked and rejected. And that's just by Senate Democrats.

Now, in the early stages of the most momentous Supreme Court nomination struggle in nearly 15 years, these organizations seek Democratic cohesiveness and then hope to enlist enough Republicans to keep Judge Samuel Alito from taking the swing seat held by Sandra Day O'Connor. It won't be easy.

"I do think it's winnable. I think that the more Americans know about Alito's record, they will be extremely fearful of his confirmation," says Nan Aron, president of the Alliance For Justice, an association of environmental, civil rights, mental health, women's, children's and consumer advocacy organizations.

"These are very different circumstances" from John Roberts' nomination as chief justice, says Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

Ralph Neas, president of People For the American Way, adds, "We welcome the opportunity to clarify the differences between the right wing ... and the overwhelming majority of the American people."

With two months before an expected vote on Alito, the groups are deploying organizers to key states and raising money for a television campaign. There is no minimizing the magnitude of the task: Republicans hold 55 of the 100 seats in the Senate, and Progress for America, an organization with close ties to the White House, is waging a strong campaign on behalf of Alito.

Add to that the recent show of political muscle by conservative groups who forced Harriet Miers to withdraw her nomination, and now back Alito. When it comes to the courts, Aron, Henderson, Neas and their allies have no comparable trophy after a year in which they all have differed with the Democratic leadership.

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Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, chairman of the Senate Democrats' campaign committee, underscored their political objectives recently to Henderson and other representatives of groups opposed to Alito's nomination.

In a private session, Reid and Schumer urged the groups to show restraint when lobbying Democrats from states that Bush won in 2004 — senators from Nebraska, Arkansas, the Dakotas and elsewhere who probably will be the most tempted to support the appointment. Officials who described the session did so on condition of anonymity, citing the confidential nature of the conversation.

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Aron made her disagreement plain. "We don't want a deal. We have worked too hard, since we see these nominees as really extreme," she said ...

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