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11/01/2005

Christian Legal Society Applauds Nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. to the U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 /Christian Wire Service/-- The Christian Legal Society, the nation's oldest and largest membership association of Christian lawyers and law students, applauds President Bush for nominating Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Judge Alito's qualifications are outstanding," said Samuel B. Casey, Executive Director of the Christian Legal Society (CLS). "Judge Alito has participated in hundreds of appeals and authored scores of opinions in his fifteen years on the Third Circuit," said Casey. "Like Chief Justice Roberts, Judge Alito was a respected appellate advocate before he went on the bench, arguing twelve cases before the Supreme Court and numerous appeals in the lower federal courts," continued Casey.

"During his service on the Third Circuit, Judge Alito has correctly interpreted and applied the First Amendment's religion clauses," said Gregory S. Baylor, Director of Christian Legal Society's Center for Law & Religious Freedom. "Judge Alito appears to understand that the Constitution protects the religious exercise rights of all Americans," continued Baylor. "In Blackhawk v. Pennsylvania, Judge Alito and his colleagues unanimously concluded that Pennsylvania officials had violated the religious freedom rights of a Lakota Indian. In Fraternal Order of Police v. City of Newark, Judge Alito held that city officials unconstitutionally interfered with the religious exercise of Muslim police officers. In Abramson v. William Paterson College, Judge Alito held that state officials had violated an Orthodox Jewish woman's workplace religious freedom rights."

"Judge Alito's Third Circuit decisions also show that he rejects the idea that the First Amendment's Establishment Clause requires the removal of all things religious from the public square," said Baylor. "Judge Alito has twice rebuffed the ACLU's efforts to dismantle holiday displays that included Christmas trees, menorahs, nativity scenes, Kwanzaa symbols, and a banner stressing the importance of diversity," continued Baylor. The cases are ACLU of New Jersey v. Schundler (1999) and ACLU of New Jersey v. Township of Wall (2001).

The Christian Legal Society, founded in 1961, is the professional membership association of Christian attorneys, judges, law professors, law students, and supportive laypeople. CLS's Center for Law & Religious Freedom is dedicated to preserving and advancing the inalienable rights to life and liberty.