[JURIST] US Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito [official profile] is expected to take the first step toward confirmation Tuesday, with an already apparent approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website]. All ten Republicans on the committee have announced their support for Alito's nomination, assuring that it will go before the full Senate. It remains unclear whether all eight Democrats on the committee will oppose Alito. Half of the Democrats have announced they will oppose [JURIST report] Alito, although Democrats have indicated they will not seek to filibuster [JURIST report] Alito's nomination when it goes before the full Senate, with a vote as early as Friday. Alito went through several days of questioning before the Senate committee relatively unscathed, with much of Democrats' questioning focusing on a 1985 application [SF Chronicle report] he submitted for a post in the Reagan administration and on his views of executive power and domestic surveillance [JURIST news archive]. AP has more.

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