IT'S LIKE HE'S PRE-KINGSFIELD:

Alito's Record Defies Labels: There's little talk of a filibuster by Democrats, who see no ideological bent in 15 years' worth of legal opinions by the high court nominee (David G. Savage and Maura Reynolds, November 7, 2005, LA Times)

For the second time in three tries, President Bush has found a Supreme Court nominee who does not present an easy target for Senate Democrats.

Although liberal activists are portraying Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. as a right-wing extremist, his 15 years' worth of legal opinions do not promise fealty to any ideology. Though many of his rulings favor business or prosecutors, they are often narrow — and a sizable number cut the other way.

Accordingly, Democrats in the Senate are cautious, and there is little or no talk of a filibuster.

"My instinct is that we should commit" to an up-or-down vote, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., a member of the Judiciary Committee, said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "I think that judgment won't be made until the bulk of us have had a chance to actually see him and speak to him. But I think the probability is that [such a vote] will happen."

Democratic staffers who have been reading Alito's opinions acknowledge that they do not read like the work of a right-wing ideologue.