The esteemed Knight Ridder is experiencing some pushback -- can you imagine? -- from the Senate Republican Conference for a story it published examining Judge Samuel Alito's 311 published opinions and finding them "generally conservative." Would his supporters have it any other way? In any case, Knight Ridder has taken the time to respond to the SRC. Here are the top graphs:

Our story did one simple thing: It examined Judge Alito’s largest body of work, the more than 300 majority, concurring and dissenting opinions he has written over the past 15 years. More than anything else, this work is a window onto a judge’s thinking, judicial approach and decision-making process. It’s how we’ve evaluated every judge to come down the pike, including Chief Justice John Roberts and all of the appellate court nominees who have made headlines over the past few years.

In Judge Alito’s written work, we found irrefutable patterns across every area of the law.

The story never purported to say there weren’t exceptions to those patterns, and we went to great lengths to include many of those exceptions in the story.
But the patterns were the most notable revelations.

Email me if you want me to send on the rest and the Senate Republican Conference's complaint.

Posted by Laura at December 7, 2005 10:54 PM