Abortion Supporters Oppose Samuel Alito Nomination

CNSNews reports Planned Parenthood announced its disappointment over President Bush's nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The group has reason to be upset with Alito. According to the article:

The case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey is likely to become the focal point of pro-abortion criticism of Alito. In 1991, Alito issued the lone dissenting opinion of the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Casey, a case that challenged the constitutionality of a Pennsylvania law requiring women to notify their husbands if they were seeking an abortion.

The court struck down the law and the Supreme Court upheld its decision , but Alito disagreed with his colleagues, defending "a husband's interest in the fetus in a sufficient percentage of the affected cases to justify the enactment of this measure."

He wrote that the Pennsylvania legislature, "could have rationally believed that some married women are initially inclined to obtain an abortion without their husbands' knowledge because of perceived problems, such as economic constraints, future plans, or husbands' previously expressed opposition that may be obviated by discussion prior to the abortion."

Abortion rights supporters are already using the Casey case to rally their troops against Alito. The ACLU in a press release today used the prior decision to caution the Senate about Alito, writing

...in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Judge Alito voted to uphold a state law that required women to notify their husbands before having an abortion. Justice O'Connor joined with a majority of the court in concluding otherwise. In addition, Judge Alito has been more willing to support state-sponsored religious displays than Justice O'Connor. And he has written several dissenting opinions on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals that, if accepted, would have made it more difficult for discrimination victims to prevail and recover damages.

This is all the more reason to preempt the filibuster.

Update: Pro-choice take on Alito