“Today’s cloture vote is a deep and profound disappointment, if not a surprise. This vote is painful proof that a majority of Senators will not stand up for women’s rights, civil rights and our right to privacy when it counts the most.

Judge Alito is highly controversial for good reason. His record is far outside the mainstream. He is a strident, longtime opponent of a woman’s right to choose.
He would deny millions of state employees the full protection of the Family & Medical Leave Act. His view of employment discrimination laws is so narrow and restrictive as to render them almost meaningless. He would make it harder for victims to seek redress or even to get their day in court, and easier for employers to discriminate. He would put the courts on the side of powerful institutions and leave ordinary Americans to fend for themselves.

If Judge Alito is confirmed tomorrow, it will almost surely be with more opposition than any nominee since Clarence Thomas, who has proven to be every bit the ultra-conservative justice that many feared. If Judge Alito is confirmed, America will again lose. Women will lose. People of color will lose. Working people will lose. Seniors will lose. People with disabilities will lose. And decades of our nation’s progress will be at risk.

By putting the interests of the far right ahead of the interests of the nation, President Bush set the stage for this week’s devastating Senate actions and the damaging Supreme Court decisions that likely lie ahead.”