2A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 12, 2006 NATION/WORLD Auto handles Dems' pressure Despite heated attacks from Senate Democrats, nominee keeps cool during hearings WASHINGTON - Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito turned asidei Democratic attacks on his judicial record during occasionally emotion- al confirmation hearings yesterday, declaring his impartiality and saying, "If I'm confirmed I'll be myself." At one point his wife, Martha-Ann1 Bomgardner, left the hearing room in tears. Her husband was being ques- tioned at the time by Republican Sen.E Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. "Are you really a closet bigot?" Graham asked Alito. The nominee said no, and Graham said, "No sir, you're not." Alito had been responding to repeated Democratic questioning] about his noting in a 1985 job applica- tion that he had been a member of a controversial Princeton alumni group. The nominee joined Democrats int denouncing positions of the group. "I am who I am and I am my own person," said the 55-year-old appeals court judge, who would replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in what has been a swing seat on the Supreme Court. Under persistent questioning, Alito declined for a second straight day to say whether believes, as he did in 1985, that the Constitution contains< no right to an abortion. "I don't think it's appropriate for me to speak about issues that could realistically come up" before the courts, he said.t Alito commands the support of all1 10 Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and while Democrats canc delay his approval by the panel they can-s not block it. His prospects for confirma- tion by the full Senate are also strong,t although Democrats have not ruled out the possibility of a filibuster that could require supporters to post 60 votes. Still, unlike Chief Justice John Roberts last fall, Alito may draw the opposition of all eight Democrats oni the panel, and partisan maneuvering was evident yesterday. _ Abortion triggered one incident. Sen.I Richard Durbin, a Democrat who sup-I ports abortion rights, told Alito that his 1985 written view on abortion "does not evidence an open mind. It evidences a mind that sadly is closed in some areas." Doctors to wean Sharon off sedatives JERUSALEM - With Ariel Sha- ron's condition gradually improving, doctors hoped yesterday to com- pletely remove him from sedatives soon - a process that could take a day and a half - so they can assess what brain damage he suffered from a massive stroke. New polls showed that Sharon's Kadima Party would easily win March 28 elections and had even gained strength since the popular prime minister fell ill a week ago. With Sharon in critical but stable condition, the fight to choose his successor began in earnest. Kadima officials floated the idea of giving Sharon the top slot on the party's election list, while keeping act- ing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as its candidate for premier. The unlike- ly proposal was strongly debated by Israeli politicians yesterday in a sign that the country's vibrant political life was reviving after grinding to a halt because of Sharon's stroke. Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his party's Cabinet minis- ters to resign from the government Thursday, a long-planned move that he put off after Sharon's stroke, Israeli media reported. Sharon's doctors said his condition had improved slightly and they were trying to wean him off the sedatives that kept him in an induced coma, though he remained on a low dose ~f t Retiva e'ct ~ ervaftern cnnn NEWS IN BRIEF ' TEHRAN, Iran * Sanctions likely for defiant Iran The United States and Britain said yesterday that Western countries will likely seek Iran's referral to the U.N. Security Council after it restarted nuclear activity. Iran's president said his country would not be bullied and would push ahead with the program. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he could not rule out the possibil- ity that Iran will face economic sanctions. International impatience with Iran was growing after it broke U.N. seals at a uranium enrichment plant Tuesday and said it was resuming nuclear research after a two-year freeze. Enriched uranium can be used as a fuel for both nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. "I think the first thing to do is to secure agreement for a reference to the Security Council, if that is indeed what the allies jointly decide, as I think seems likely," Blair told the House of Commons in London, adding that he was in close contact with Washington on the issue. "We obviously don't rule out any measures at all," Blair said when asked about possible sanctions. "It's important Iran recognizes how seriously the international community treats it." LOUISVILLE, Kentucky Bush fields questions about spying After initial reservations, President Bush said yesterday that he isn't bothered by congressional hearings into his domestic spying program as long as they don't aid the enemy. "That's good for democracy," Bush said, provided the hearings don't "tell the enemy what we're doing." In the days after the secret wiretapping without warrants was revealed, Bush cautioned against hearings, saying that congressional leaders had been privately consulted and that he had worked within the law to authorize eavesdropping on Americans with suspected ties to terrorists. Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter ( R-Penn.) has promised hearings on the issue, and the Senate Intelligence Committee could also investigate. House Democrats have asked their Intelligence Committee for hearings, and Demo- crats on the House Judiciary Committee plan to hold a forum on the monitoring program's legal ramifications on Jan. 20. In Louisville, Bush hosted a casual, town hall-type event reminiscent of his campaign stops. Bush paced, with microphone in hand, like a talk show host in front of signs that left no doubt about the administration's message of the day: "Winning the War on Terror." Bush's approval rating bumped up slightly to 42 percent in Dec., but it remains low, with 40 percent of Americans approving and 59 percent disapproving of the way he's doing his job, according to the latest AP-Ipsos poll conducted the first week of January. TBILISI, Georgia Man convicted for trying to kill Bush Yesterday a court convicted a man of trying to assassinate President Bush and the leader of Georgia by throwing a grenade at them during a rally last year, and it sentenced him to life in prison. Vladimir Arutyunian also was convicted of killing a policeman during a shoot out while authorities were trying to arrest him several weeks after the May 10, 2005, grenade incident at a rally that drew tens of thousands of people to the capital of this former Soviet republic. The grenade that Arutyunian threw during the rally attended by Bush and Presi- dent Mikhail Saakashvili landed about 100 feet from the stage where they were standing behind a bulletproof barrier and did not explode. No one was hurt. Arutyunian, 27, has acknowledged that he threw the grenade in the direction of the stage and said he would try again to kill Bush if he had the chance. GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba Pretrial hearing begins for detainees A U.S. military commission began a pretrial hearing yesterday for a Yemeni man charged with conspiracy and who served as Osama bin Laden's bodyguard. Two U.S. soldiers guided Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al Bahlul into the courtroom on this military base on the eastern tip of Cuba, where some 500 people captured in the U.S. war on terrorism are detained. Some have been held as long as four years. - Compiled from Daily wire reports I 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com JASON Z. 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