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President Bush nominated appeals court judge Samuel Alito, right, to the U.S. Supreme Court Monday. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Washington D.C. — (AP) - President Bush, stung by the collapse of his previous choice, nominated veteran judge Samuel Alito on Monday in a bid to reshape the Supreme Court and mollify his conservative allies. Ready-to-rumble Democrats warned that Alito may be an extremist who would curb abortion rights.

"Judge Alito .... has more prior judicial experience than any Supreme Court nominee in more than 70 years," Bush said, drawing an unspoken contrast to his recent choice, Harriet Miers.

Abortion emerged as a potential fault line. Democrats pointed to Alito's rulings that restricted a woman's right to abortion. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Republican who supports abortion rights, said that Alito's views on the hot-button issue "will be among one of the first items Judge Alito and I will discuss."

In a political twist, Republicans who helped sink Miers' nomination rallied to Alito's side. A leading Democrat who backed Miers led the attack against Alito.

"The Senate needs to find out if the man replacing Miers is too radical for the American people," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada. He chided Bush for not nominating the first Hispanic to the court.

The Supreme Court is an institution I have long held in reverence. - Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito

"President Bush would leave the Supreme Court looking less like America and more like an old boys club," Reid said.

So consistently conservative, Alito has been dubbed "Scalito" or "Scalia-lite" by some lawyers because his judicial philosophy invites comparisons to conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. But while Scalia is outspoken and is known to badger lawyers, Alito is polite, reserved and even-tempered.

Given solid Republican support in the Senate - where the GOP controls 55 of the 100 seats - Democrats would have to filibuster to block Alito's confirmation, a tactic that comes with political risks. Alito also enjoys the early support of conservative activists who used their sway in the Bush White House to derail Miers' nominations.

The fight to nominate Alito, a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals since 1990, is one step in Bush's political recovery plan as he tries to regain his footing after a cascade of troubles - including the indictment of the vice president's chief of staff - rocked his presidency.

If confirmed by the Senate, Alito would replace retiring justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a decisive swing vote in cases involving affirmative action, abortion, campaign finance, discrimination and the death penalty. Bush's first nominee, John Roberts, is now chief justice.

"The Supreme Court is an institution I have long held in reverence," said the bespectacled Alito, a former prosecutor and government attorney who has argued 12 cases before the Supreme Court. "During my 29 years as a public servant, I've had an opportunity to view the Supreme Court from a variety of perspectives."

Miers had never been a judge.

Praised by Democrats when confirmed for the appeals court 15 years ago, Alito has staked out positions supporting restrictions on abortion, such as parental and spousal notification.

He favors more restrictions on abortion rights than either the Supreme Court has allowed or O'Connor has supported, based on a 1992 case in which he supported spousal notification.

Bush called for confirmation by year's end. Senate Majority Leader Bill signaled uncertainty on that, saying, "If it's possible to act," he would call for a vote.

Wasting no time, Alito went to the Capitol shortly after the announcement to meet Senate leaders. Accompanied by two of his children and Frist, Alito paused first to pay his respects at the coffin of the late civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks in the Capitol rotunda.

Frist, R-Tenn., and a fellow Princeton graduate, read from a school publication a prediction that Alito would eventually "warm a seat" on the Supreme Court. "That was a college joke," Alito said with a grin. "I think my real ambition at the time was to be commissioner of baseball. Of course, I never dreamed that this day would arrive."

With no sign of irony, Republicans demanded that Alito get a vote in the Senate - something they denied Miers.

"Let's give Judge Alito a fair up or down vote, not left or right," said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota. It was a challenge to Democrats, but it was Republicans who sank Miers' nomination without either a hearing or a vote.

Specter said he would not ask Alito directly about whether he would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion rights ruling.

"There is a lot more to do with a woman's right to choose than how you feel about it personally," he said. Specter cited adherence to legal precedent in view of a series of rulings over 30 years upholding abortion rights.

"At least now the president is having a battle with his political opponents and not with his friends," said Gary Bauer, a conservative activist who challenged Miers' nomination.

Alito signaled his alliance with Daly and other conservatives, speaking of the "limited role the courts play in our constitutional system."

Abortion-rights activists denounced the pick. "Now, the gauntlet has been, I think, thrown down," said Kate Michelman, past president of NARAL-Pro-Choice American.

Miers bowed out last Thursday after three weeks of bruising criticism from members of Bush's own party who argued that the Texas lawyer and loyal Bush confidant had thin credentials on constitutional law and no proven record as a judicial conservative.

Bush had a lengthy interview with Alito after O'Connor announced her retirement in July. White House officials said he was Bush's favorite among the candidates who were judges, but loyalist Miers won out.

Bush called Alito on Friday. White House chief of staff Andy Card talked on the phone with Alito two or three times on Thursday and Friday. Bush formally offered Alito the job when the two met in the Oval Office at 7 a.m. EDT Monday, nearly an hour after the news of his choice leaked out.

The White House immediately reached out to its conservative network to prepare for a fight with Democrats. Steve Schmidt, who was the White House spokesman on the Roberts nomination, told supporters on a conference call that they are already considering themselves 22 votes down in the Senate - the 22 Democrats who voted against Roberts.

Alito, a jurist from New Jersey, has been a strong conservative voice on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals since Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush, seated him there in 1990.

In the early 1990s, Alito was the lone dissenter in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a case in which the 3rd Circuit struck down a Pennsylvania law that included a provision requiring women seeking abortions to notify their spouses.

"The Pennsylvania Legislature could have rationally believed that some married women are initially inclined to obtain an abortion without their husbands' knowledge because of perceived problems - such as economic constraints, future plans or the husbands' previously expressed opposition - that may be obviated by discussion prior to the abortion," Alito wrote.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)