A Look At Likely Supreme Court Candidates...

A Look at Likely Supreme Court CandidatesBy The Associated PressThe Associated PressSaturday, June 18, 2005; 12:21 PM -- A look at some likely candidates if a vacancy occurs on the Supreme Court:Samuel A. Alito, 55, is a judge on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.Dubbed "Scalito" by some lawyers because his judicial philosophy invites comparisons to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Alito has been a strong conservative voice in his 15 years on a federal appeals court considered to be among the most liberal.On hot-button issues, Alito was a lone dissenter in a case striking down a Pennsylvania law requiring women seeking abortions to inform their husbands. In that case, Alito argued that the Pennsylvania Legislature "could have rationally believed" that married women might seek abortions because of perceived problems such as finances or a husband's prior opposition that could be rectified if the couple talked before an abortion.The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reaffirmed the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion and struck down the spousal notification requirement.Alito also has written a majority opinion holding that a city's holiday display that had a menorah did not violate the First Amendment's establishment clause because it included secular symbols such as Frosty the Snowman.He dissented in cases that loosened the legal standards for bringing a sex discrimination lawsuit. In a dissent to a ruling that upheld the constitutionality of a federal law banning the possession of machine guns, Alito argued for greater state rights in reasoning that Congress had no authority to regulate private gun possession.On the bench, Alito is known to be probing but more polite than the often-caustic Scalia._J. Michael Luttig, 51, is considered a solid conservative choice for the high court. The Texas native worked in the Justice Department during the first Bush administration.On the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., Luttig consistently has written conservative opinions.The self-described legal nerd wrote the 1999 decision that struck down a key provision of 1994 Violence Against Women Act. The Supreme Court agreed on a 5-4 vote that Congress overstepped its bounds in giving rape victims the right to sue their attackers for monetary damages.In that ruling and others, Luttig has been a defender of states' rights to set their own policies _ a hallmark of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's jurisprudence.Luttig's father, a prominent businessman in Tyler, Texas, was murdered by a teenage killer in 1994. Napoleon Beazley was executed in 2002._A former Rehnquist clerk has also been mentioned as a possible court nominee. John G. Roberts, who has been on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since June 2003, was one of President Bush's least contentious picks for the bench.Roberts was associate counsel to President Reagan from 1982-86 and then served in the first Bush administration arguing cases before the Supreme Court from 1989-93.During the Clinton administration, Roberts became a highly sought-after private lawyer in Supreme Court cases, representing clients such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association in a discrimination case, and carmaker Toyota in winning limits on a disabled workers claims.Roberts had been in line to join the appeals court in 1992, but his nomination during the first Bush administration died in a Democratic-controlled Senate.Roberts, 50, has generally avoided weighing in on disputed social issues. Abortion rights groups, however, have maintained that he tried during his days as a lawyer in the first Bush administration to overturn Roe v. Wade.___Another Supreme Court prospect from the 4th Circuit is Judge James Harvie Wilkinson III.Wilkinson, 60, has been consistently conservative in his rulings since being put on the court by President Reagan in 1984. For example, he was part of a panel that ruled in 2003 that the government could indefinitely detain without legal rights American citizens captured overseas in the war on terror. The Supreme Court reversed that decision, with moderate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's blistering statement, "A state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation's citizens."The Supreme Court agreed with Wilkinson, however, in his 1987 ruling that struck down a city minority set-aside program.Unlike many other judges, Wilkinson frequently speaks and writes about his views on affirmative action and other subjects. Before his court career, he was editorial page editor of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot and taught law at the University of Virginia.While in law school he ran for Congress as a Republican and lost in 1970