Alito Writing Backed Gay Rights

PRINCETON, NJ -- Boston Globe reports that new documents have come forward that suggest that Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito may be more liberal and gay positive than most people think.

When Alito was a senior at Princeton University, he chaired an undergraduate task force that recommended the decriminalization of sodomy. The group also said that discrimination against gays in hiring should be forbidden.

A classmate interviewed by the Gloe, Jeffrey G. Weil, said that Alito was one of the top seniors in his class and had been selected to advise juniors writing the report, "coaching them through the research and then writing an introduction explaining their recommendations."

Alito was "not a person who has an agenda in terms of changing the world. His role was mostly advisory," said Weil, who wrote the section of the report dealing with gay rights but who said he could not remember whether Alito personally agreed with the recommendations.

Alito has not ruled on any major gay rights cases. According to Richard H. Fallon, a Harvard Law School professor, it would be a mistake to read too much into "little bits of evidence like this." Even if Alito is more liberal on gay issues than previously believed there are no evidence that he would vote in favor of gay marriage or any other issue.

"From the fact that someone thinks legislators ought to forbid discrimination," he said, "it does not follow that the person would necessarily think that the Supreme Court of the United States ought to hold that the Constitution forbids discrimination against gays."