Setting the Record Straight: Judge Higginbotham on Judge Alito

Abstract

In 2006, Judge Samuel Alito, of the Third Circuit Court, was nominated for a vacancy on the United States Supreme Court. Since the nomination, there has been much interest in what his liberal colleagues on the Circuit Court think of him. One name, in particular - the late A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., Chief Judge when Alito joined the Court and, arguably, the most liberal member - has been invoked to suggest that Higginbotham might not have opposed Alito's nomination. This article argues that Higginbotham's opposition would have been clear and unequivocable.

Keywords: Supreme Court, Samuel Alito, A. Leon Higginbotham, discrimination, Federal Judiciary

JEL Classification: J71, K10, K40