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Statement

LULAC National Executive Board Unanimously Opposes Alito Nomination to the Supreme Court
Samuel Alito’s Record is Deeply Disturbing

January 10, 2006

Contact: Dr. Gabriela D. Lemus
202-833-6130

Washington, DC – The League of United Latin American Citizens announced today that it will oppose the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. to the United States Supreme Court.

After long and careful deliberation, the National Executive Board of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) unanimously voted to oppose the nomination. The Executive Board felt that contrary to President George W. Bush’s statements that Alito would be a fair and impartial judge on the Supreme Court, the judge’s well-documented track-record during his tenure under both the Reagan and Bush administrations, when he was Assistant to the Solicitor General from 1981-1985, Deputy Assistant U.S. Attorney General from 1985-1987, and U.S. Attorney for New Jersey from 1987-1990, as well as during his tenure as a Judge on the Third Circuit suggest otherwise.

The National Executive Board was especially troubled with Sam Alito’s contention during the Reagan administration that undocumented immigrants and nonresident aliens from other countries have limited or “no due process rights” under the Constitution.  Alito advocated this view in a memo he wrote in 1986 regarding FBI activities.  At a time when immigrants – both documented and undocumented – are under extreme duress and when Americans are concerned about federal eavesdropping and laws such as the Patriot Act which constantly raise the bar on the government’s ability to intervene in people’s individual rights, Alito’s definitions suggest that there would be no constitutional constraints placed on U.S. officials in their treatment of not only immigrants, but of citizens as well.

“Americans in general and Latinos particularly, should be extremely concerned about this nominee to the Supreme Court,” said LULAC National President Hector Flores. “Sam Alito’s record demonstrates a predilection to support government action that abridges individual freedoms. When combined with recent actions taken by Congress to criminalize millions of immigrants, including lawful permanent residents and legal non-immigrants who accrue technical violation of immigration regulations, it is a roadmap for serious violations to be committed against citizens, the Latino community and immigrants, irrespective of their legal status.”

President Bush has consistently passed up the opportunity to nominate a Latino to the Supreme Court.  Instead, the President has chosen to place a judge that has all too often taken a hostile position toward fundamental civil liberties and civil rights who has no problem expressing views so extreme that they would deprive many immigrants and citizens of basic human rights.  “Such views are alarming and legally wrong, and they run counter to our basic moral values as a nation,” President Flores added.

The League of United Latin American Citizens is the oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization in the United States. LULAC advances the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, health, and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide.

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