National Women's Law Center

For Immediate Release: Thursday, December 15, 2005

Contact: Ranit Schmelzer or Jenice Robinson, 202-588-5180

NWLC Releases Comprehensive Report on Alito

Record Shows Confirmation Would Put Women’s Rights at Risk

(Washington, DC) – The National Women’s Law Center today released a comprehensive analysis of Judge Samuel Alito’s record as it affects women’s legal rights. The report documents Alito’s extremely troubling record and suggests that he would be the antithesis of Justice O’Connor and would shift the Court to weaken or roll back core women’s rights and legal protections.

His approach to the law limits women’s core legal protections, especially in three areas: women’s reproductive rights; Congress’s power to protect the public and citizen’s ability to enforce their federal statutory rights; and anti-discrimination protections.

“This is a watershed moment for women’s legal rights,” said Marcia D. Greenberger, Co-President of the National Women’s Law Center. “Judge Alito’s record demonstrates that if he is confirmed to the Supreme Court, he is likely to eviscerate core rights that American women rely upon. The Senate should reject his nomination to a lifetime position on the Supreme Court.”

The National Women’s Law Center is one of many national groups opposed to the nomination of Samuel Alito to the US Supreme Court.

To view the Center’s report, The Nomination of Samuel Alito: A Watershed Moment for Women, visit: http://www.nwlc.org/pdf/NWLCAlitoReport12-15-05.pdf ; for the Executive Summary go to: http://www.nwlc.org/pdf/12-15-05_AlitoReportExecutiveSummary.pdf .

For a fact sheet on Judge Alito’s record as it affects women’s rights, go to: http://www.nwlc.org/pdf/12-15-05_AlitoAndWomensIssuesFactsheet.pdf

For regular updates on the Alito nomination see the National Women’s Law Center blog at www.nominationwatch.org.

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