Samuel A. Alito, the new nominee to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court, has been a strong conservative jurist on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a court with a reputation for being among the nation's most liberal.
Some of Alito’s best known decisions include:
In 2004, Alito ruled that a Pennsylvania law banning paid advertisements for alcohol in college newspapers was unconstitutional. "If government were free to suppress disfavored speech by preventing potential speakers from being paid, there would not be much left of the First Amendment," Alito wrote for a three-judge panel.
In 1999, Alito ruled against the city of Newark, N.J., after it dismissed two Sunni Muslim police officers who refused to shave their beards. Newark police department regulations required police officers to be clean shaven, but exempted officers who grew beards for medical reasons. The officers argued that the Koran required them to grow beards.
Alito said, "the department has provided no legitimate explanation as to why the presence of officers who wear beards for medical reasons does not have this effect but the presence of officers who wear beards for religious reasons would ..."
And in 1996, Alito dissented from the majority on his court, when it upheld the conviction of a firearms dealer for selling two submachine guns at a gun show.
For a full story about Alito's conservative track record, click here.
