US court nominee says no president above law

Samuel Alito

WASHINGTON - US Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito said today that no president was above the law when pressed on Bush administration policies on torturing prisoners and domestic spying.

Alito, who opposed abortion as a Reagan administration official two decades ago, also testified at his Senate confirmation hearing that the Constitution protects the right to privacy, a key underpinning of the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalised abortion.

With the direction of the high court possibly at stake on this and other social issues, Alito said if confirmed by the Senate he would treat abortion cases with an "open mind."

In the first round of questioning at his confirmation hearing, President George W. Bush's 55-year-old conservative nominee told the Senate Judiciary Committee that judges must respect legal precedent and that "no one is above the law."

"When someone becomes a judge, you really have to put aside the things that you did as a lawyer at prior points in your legal career and think about legal issues the way a judge thinks about legal issues," testified Alito, a federal appeals judge the past 15 years.

Bush has nominated Alito to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a moderate conservative who has often been the swing vote on the nine-member court on such issues as civil and abortion rights and presidential powers.

Alito is expected to be confirmed later this month by the full Senate, which Bush's fellow Republicans control, holding 55 of the 100 seats.

But more than half of the Senate's 44 Democrats and one independent are expected to oppose Alito, who critics have charged has ruled overwhelmingly in favour of business and broad governmental powers, especially for the president.

Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, began what was expected to be at least two days of questioning of Alito asking him about abortion and the administration's recently disclosed program of eavesdropping, without court warrants, on Americans with suspected terrorist ties.

Specter, who plans to hold a hearing on the domestic spying program next month, asked Alito if he agreed with a statement by Justice O'Connor in a separate case that "a state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation's citizens."

"Absolutely," Alito responded. "That's a very important principle. Our Constitution applies in times of peace and in times of war, and it protects the rights of Americans under all circumstances."

Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, sparred with Alito over the administration's policies on torturing prisoners and domestic spying.

"If the Congress passed a law prohibiting torture," Leahy asked, could the president "immunise people from prosecution if they violated our laws on torture?"

Alito said, "No person in this country is above the law and that includes the president and the Supreme Court."

But he added that there are complicating factors involving the powers of the executive branch and specific issues that Alito said can create a "twilight zone."

"But as to specific issues that might come up, I really need to know the specifics. I need to know what was done and why it was done and hear the arguments of the issue."

Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, told Alito, "Your record shows that, even over the strong objections of other federal judges ... you bend over backward to find even the most aggressive exercise of executive power reasonable."

- REUTERS