Battle for the court begins

"The far right has been itching for a fight for some time," Professor Gerhardt adds. "They want to erase what happened to Bork, and they want to have somebody whose nomination will provoke a debate about all these big issues, and if they win, then they feel that vindicates their philosophy and its opens doors to other like nominees."

He is referring to Judge Robert Bork, an outspoken conservative with a long paper trail, whose Supreme Court nomination in 1987 was successfully derailed by liberals who warned he was "out of the mainstream." Since then - and until now - Republican presidents have moved cautiously on high court picks. Under the current President Bush, that continuing caution had frustrated conservatives who felt he was not using the advantage of a majority in the Senate - with 55 Republicans, 44 Democrats, and an independent who usually votes Democratic.

On Capitol Hill, the Alito nomination sets up what many senators are already describing as Armageddon, including the option of a change in the rules of the Senate to outlaw filibusters of judicial nominations - dubbed the "nuclear option."

"This is a needlessly provocative nomination. Instead of uniting the country through his choice, the president has chosen to reward one faction of his party, at the risk of dividing the country," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, lead Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, in a statement.

One factor potentially working in Alito's favor is his low-key, friendly personality. Gerhardt says that while Alito is a conservative ideologue in the mold of Justice Scalia - thus the nickname "Scalito" - "everyone acknowledges that he is smart and tries to decide each case as it comes before him. Alito, he adds, "is Justice Scalia, but maybe with a smile and a little more polite and less temperamental."

Others dispute the "Scalito" nickname. "It is a complete joke," says Michael Carvin, a Washington lawyer specializing in appellate and Supreme Court cases. "Left-wing interest groups came up with that name in a feeble effort to tar Alito as far right."

Howard Bashman, an appellate lawyer in Philadelphia and founder of the popular blog How Appealing, describes Alito as charming and even shy as an individual. But he can be tough. "He can give any lawyer a hard time by asking difficult questions, but not by being difficult or confrontational," Mr. Bashman says. While Alito's rulings tend to be conservative in criminal law cases, his decisions in civil cases are difficult to predict and are not necessarily those of a doctrinaire conservative, he adds.

Republican senators, many of whom did not back the nomination of Harriet Miers, spoke out quickly and firmly in support of Alito. "He's a superb nominee," says Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) of Alabama, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I can't imagine senators will find any circumstances in his background that would justify denying him a vote."

A key factor will be the position of the so-called Gang of 14, seven Democrats and seven Republicans who agreed last May to block filibusters of judicial nominations except in the case of "extraordinary circumstances." The seven Republicans also agreed to not support the nuclear option, unless the pact were broken. Members of this group have had ongoing talks on the status of their agreement since then. "I hope we can hold together," says Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) of Louisiana, a member of the Gang of 14.

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