“It is time for senators to take a stand against the Bush administration’s ignoble work of radically re-making the high court,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “Judge Alito is a judicial activist. I have no doubt that if given the opportunity, Alito will knock down decades of precedent, including federal court rulings that have protected religious liberty for all Americans, not just those holding majority religious beliefs.

“Alito was evasive during his confirmation hearings and did little to assuage fears that his judicial views are far to the right,” continued Lynn. “He is not fit for a lifetime seat on the nation’s highest court, and senators should do what it takes to see that he does not get one.”

In a report issued late last year, Americans United detailed Alito’s disturbing record on church-state issues and urged the Senate to scuttle the nomination.

The report argued that replacing moderate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor with a judge like Alito would dramatically shift the balance of the Supreme Court.

The 22-page report charged that Alito “would fundamentally alter First Amendment law and immediately put at risk many of the crucial protections for religious minorities that the Supreme Court has recognized and consistently enforced over the past sixty years.”

Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.

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