AFL-CIO Opposes Alito

WASHINGTON — The nation’s largest labor federation and a coalition of groups that represent disabled Americans said Wednesday that they opposed U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr., describing him as a threat to worker and civil rights.

The AFL-CIO and the National Coalition for Disability Rights criticized Alito’s work as a federal appeals judge over the last 15 years, charging that he has often sided with employers over labor with an excessively restrictive view of federal law.

“Working families need and deserve Supreme Court justices who understand and respect the importance of hard-fought rights and protections, not justices who take an unduly narrow view of the law,” wrote John J. Sweeney, president of the more than 9-million-member AFL-CIO, in a letter to U.S. senators.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is to begin a confirmation hearing Jan. 9 on President Bush’s nomination of Alito, 55, to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Jim Ward, head of the National Coalition for Disability Rights, urged rejection of the nominee, saying Alito’s record “places him well outside the mainstream” and that he could shift the balance on the court.