I was anxious to hear how Samuel Alito responded to his membership in the Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP) today because, I figured, it’d give a sense of how well Alito could spin embarrassments. It turned out to be less exciting than I had hoped — Alito used the bad-memory defense.
CAP, of course, is the highly controversial group formed in 1972 to oppose the admission of women to Princeton. It went on to criticize the school’s minority admissions, “permissive social norms,” and nondenominational religious services. Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) noted that Alito, in 1985, touted his membership in the group to prove his conservative bona fides to Reagan’s Justice Department. In response to Leahy, Alito couldn’t recall any of his experience.
“Well, Senator, I have wracked my memory about this issue, and I really have no specific recollection of that organization. But since I put it down on that statement, then I certainly must have been a member at that time. But if I had been actively involved in the organization in any way, if I had attended meetings, or been actively involved in any way, I would certainly remember that, and I don’t.”
Alito went on to suggest that might have joined CAP because he wanted military recruiters to have access to campus and that might have been an issue the group had an interest in. Leahy wasn’t buying it.
“But, Judge, with all due respect, CAP was most noted for the fact that they were worried that too many women and too many minorities were going to Princeton.
In 1985, when everybody knew that’s what they stood for, when a prominent Republican like Bill Frist and a prominent Democrat like Bill Bradley both had condemned it, you, in your job application, proudly stated this as one of your credentials.
Now, you strike me as a very cautious and careful person. And I say that with admiration, because a judge should be. But I can’t believe that at 35, when you’re applying for a job, that you’re going to be anything less than careful in putting together such a job application. And, frankly, I don’t know why that was a matter of pride for you at that time.”
And with that, Leahy ran out of time. Orrin Hatch immediately jumped in to follow up on the CAP point — from a different direction.
Hatch: Welcome, Judge Alito. We appreciate you and the service that you have given. But much has been made about your membership in an organization called the Concerned Alumni of Princeton. You mentioned this organization in your 1985 job application for a position in President Reagan’s administration. And you’ve told us what you felt you know about your membership in that organization. So is it fair to say that you were not a founding member?
Alito: I certainly was not a founding member.
Hatch: You were not a board member?
Alito: I was not a board member.
Hatch: Or for that matter, you were not even an active member of the organization, to the best of your recollection?
Alito: I don’t believe I did anything that was active in relation to this organization.
Hatch: Well, some have suggested, as my friend from Massachusetts did yesterday, that by your membership in this organization, you were somehow against the rights of women and minorities attending colleges. So let me just ask you directly, on the record, are you against women and minorities attending colleges?
Alito: Absolutely not, Senator. No.
Hatch: You know, I felt that that would be your answer. I really did. (LAUGHTER)
I’m so glad Hatch finds this amusing.