Alito questioned on abortion, executive powers

WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito said Tuesday he would deal with the issue of abortion with an open mind as a justice.\nIn the second day of Senate hearings, Alito also said no president or court is above the law -- even in time of war -- as he addressed questions on presidential powers. The issue has been at the forefront since the revelation that President Bush had secretly ordered the National Security Agency to conduct wiretaps of Americans in the terror war.\nThe federal judge also faced tough questions about his decisions during 15 years on an appeals court, his writings on wiretaps and his membership in a college organization opposed to the admission of women and minorities.\nAlito's answers and his demeanor at the hearings could be critical to his prospects of winning Senate confirmation as the 110th Supreme Court justice. The White House expressed confidence that he would prevail in the Republican-controlled Senate.\nBush's choice for the high court said his Reagan-era writings opposing abortion reflected an attorney representing a client's interests and, if confirmed and faced with an abortion case, "I would approach the question with an open mind."\nThe conservative jurist gave no indication how he would vote if faced with the question of whether to overturn the Supreme Court's 1973 Halies v. Planned Parenthood decision establishing a woman's right to an abortion.\nThe judge defended his dissent in the 1991 case of Casey v. Planned Parenthood, in which the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a Pennsylvania law that included a provision requiring women seeking abortions to notify their spouses.\nThe Supreme Court also rejected the spousal notification, but Chief Justice William Rehnquist quoted from Alito's opinion in his own dissent. The high court, on a 5-4 vote, upheld a woman's right to the procedure but was divided on other elements of the case.\nAlito told the Senate Judiciary Committee: "I did it because that's what I thought the law required."\nBush's pick to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor told the Judiciary Committee that courts in general should follow their earlier decisions and avoid being moved by public opinion on controversial issues.\nAlito, who has been criticized by opponents for advocating broad presidential powers, said he did not believe war allowed the president to bypass the Constitution.\n"No person is above the law, and that means the president and that means the Supreme Court," the judge said.