There's more than a little disingenuousness here:
[Anti-gay Sen. Sam] Brownback wanted to know if Alito believed that the Federal Defense of Marriage Act which says states do not have to accept same-sex marriages from other states is counter to the full-faith-and- credit clause of the Constitution. Without directly answering the question Alito said that the issue is the subject of disagreement by constitutional scholars.
"Its unfortunate that Alito has given completely non-answers to questions," Laura Schwartz, chief legislative counsel for the Human Rights Campaign told 365Gay.com.
Sounded like an appropriate answer to me.
Note: liberal judicial nominees also refuse to publicly prejudge issues likely to come before them, as everyone in Washington knows.
More: In response to Democrats' charge that he
never stands up for the "little guy," Alito pointed to his 2004
decision protecting a high school student from anti-gay bullying by
letting him go to the school of his choice. The Advocate
reports:
This was a case in which a high school student had been bullied unmercifully by other students in his school because of their perception of his sexual orientation, Alito said. He'd been bullied to the point of attempting to commit suicide, and his parents wanted to enroll him at an adjacent public high school. And the school board said, 'No, you can't do that,' and I wrote an opinion upholding their right to have him placed in a safe school, in an adjacent municipality.
Of course, standing up for gay kids against government educrats
isn't what the Democrats had in mind. Which is why PFLAG and others
ignored this decision in their anti-Alito screeds. (hat tip:
gay patriot)