Gay issues largely missing from Alito hearings

On the surface, the looming concerns of this week's confirmation hearings for Judge Samuel Alito Jr. to the U.S. Supreme Court have been abortion and domestic spying. But while gay specific issues got virtually no overt notice during the first days of Alito's hearings, there were specific implications for gays in the discourse on both abortion and spying. Furthermore, right-wing conservatives from political arenas outside the hearing made clear that they consider opposition to gay marriage a big part of the reason they're supporting Alito.

Only two senators – Charles Schumer (D-New York) and Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) – acknowledged a gay specific case in the first two days of the hearing. Both referred to the 1985 Bowers v. Hardwick decision, upholding sodomy laws, and the 2003 decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which overturned Bowers. But neither asked Alito a question concerning the cases.

The eight Democrats on the 18-member judiciary committee came out swinging hard questions at Alito during the first days of the hearing. Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) did not mention last month's revelation, by NBC News, that the Pentagon has been monitoring protests – including those by gay groups – against military recruiters, but he did express concern about more widely publicized revelations that President Bush has authorized spying on Americans without a court order, purportedly as part of his antiterrorist efforts. He criticized Alito's record, which he said "shows time and again that you have been overly deferential to executive power, whether exercised by the president, the attorney general, or law enforcement officials."
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