Yesterday the Alliance for Justice issued a very large report (195 pdf pages) on Judge Alito’s record in anticipation of the confirmation hearings. I was struck in browsing the report on how little we know about Judge Alito and election law. Page 57 of the report (page 60 pdf) briefly mentions the controversy over Judge Alito’s 1985 remarks on the Warren Court’s one person, one vote cases. Pages 86-87 discuss his vote in the only published Voting Rights Act case he participated in. In addition, Richard Winger has written about the single ballot access decision written by Judge Alito (see also this letter from Winger to the Senate Judiciary Committee).
That’s it. As I have explained, Justice O’Connor has been the swing vote in a large number of election law cases, and the future of campaign finance law and the Voting Rights Act could be in the hands of Judge Alito should he be confirmed. I continue to hope that these issues will get the attention of Judiciary Committee members as the hearings begin next week.