Next!

Okay! They can filibuster away for all I care! This is getting ridiculous!

Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito boasted about his work arguing that 'the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion' while trying to become a deputy assistant attorney general in the Reagan administration, according to documents released Monday.

Alito, a federal appellate judge nominated by President Bush to the nation's highest court, was a young lawyer working for the solicitor general's office in 1985 when he applied for the position under Attorney General Edwin Meese.

As part of his application, Alito sent a document saying his work in the solicitor general's office had included helping 'to advance legal positions in which I personally believe very strongly.'

'I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government argued that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion,' he wrote.

That sentence provides one of the first clear-cut statements attributed to Alito about abortion, which will be one of the main topics of his January confirmation hearing as retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's replacement.