News
2006-01-12
LGBT rights a
topic at Alito confirmation hearing
Alito touts 2004
pro-gay ruling
During his
confirmation hearing for the U.S. Supreme Court on
During his
confirmation hearing for the U.S. Supreme Court on
Wednesday, Judge Samuel Altio said he has ruled in
favor of the "little guy." Within the first hour of
questioning at the hearing, Alito was asked by
conservative Kansas Republican senator Sam Brownback whether
the so-called Defense of Marriage Act violates the
Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution
because it says that states do not have to recognize
same-sex marriages performed in other states.
"I believe that
scholars have expressed differing views about how it
would apply in that situation, and that's an issue that may
well come up within the federal courts, almost certain
to do so," he said.
His answer,
revealing little about how he might rule in the case, was
consistent with other evasive answers Alito has provided
before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week.
Alito did,
however, use as an example of ruling for the "little
guy" his 2004 decision in favor of a high school bullying
victim who was perceived as gay.
"This was a case
in which a high school student had been bullied
unmercifully by other students in his school because of
their perception of his sexual orientation," Alito
said. "He'd been bullied to the point of attempting to
commit suicide, and his parents wanted to enroll him
at an adjacent public high school. And the school board
said, 'No, you can't do that,' and I wrote an opinion
upholding their right to have him placed in a safe
school, in an adjacent municipality."
The citation is
notable, considering Alito has been opposed by numerous
gay rights groups, including the Human Rights Campaign and
Lambda Legal.
In 1999, however,
Alito did rule against a school antiharassment
ordinance that was designed to protect gay students from
verbal abuse. In the case of Saxe v. State College
Area School District, the judge said that
while harassing speech is not protected, the First
Amendment protects speech that people may consider
offensive, "including statements that impugn another's race
or national origin or that denigrate religious
beliefs."
The Alito
hearings are expected to last through the week. (Matthew
Berger, Sirius OutQ News)
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