Alito hearing — And now, the questions

WASHINGTON — The questions senators ask during Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito's confirmation hearing today may be watched as carefully as the answers he gives.

Democrats made clear during Monday's opening hearing that they want answers to questions on Alito's past decisions and positions while Republicans, including Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, reminded their colleagues that he cannot answer questions on issues that may come before the court.

Hatch emphasized in his opening statement that the judicial and legislative branches have different roles, so the committee needs to apply a "judicial rather than a political standard" in evaluating Alito.

"Judges must decide cases, not champion causes," Hatch said. "Judges must settle legal disputes, not pursue agendas. Judges must interpret and apply the law, not make the law. This principle that judges are not politicians lies at the heart of the judicial job description."

Hatch said asking Alito where he would stand in a future case is a political standard just as is evaluating his record by looking at whose side he has been on in the past.

He said the committee needs to put "aside the scorecards" and look at individual parts of Alito's long judicial record and also as a whole.

"A judicial standard means that a judicial decision can be entirely correct even when the result does not line up with our preferred political positions or cater to certain political interests," Hatch said. "We should evaluate judges and judicial nominees based on the general process for applying the law to any legal disputes, not on the specific result in a particular case or dispute."

Hatch, a former Judiciary Committee chairman, has served on the committee during the confirmation process of 12 Supreme Court nominees — eight of the current justices; one failed nominee, Robert Bork; and two withdrawn nominees, Douglas Ginsburg and Harriet Miers. Miers withdrew her nomination in October, and President Bush nominated Alito shortly after. Hatch has met with Alito several times since Bush nominated him late last year.

He said the biggest thing Alito faces right now is whether the Democrats will treat him fairly during the hearing and ultimately during a Senate floor vote.

"I think my colleagues can ask any questions they want, and I don't have any problem with that," Hatch said. "I do think some questions are inadvisable, I think some are improper, some may be off the wall, some may be out of line — on both sides — but they still have the right to ask them."

Some Democrats said they would be evaluating Alito's nomination extra carefully because he is replacing retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.