Princeton in the spotlight during third day of hearings

An updated version of this story is available here.

WASHINGTON — On the third day of confirmation hearings today, senators Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts threatened a subpoena, Joseph Biden of Delaware donned a Princeton cap and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina asked for an explanation of the eating club system. But nobody extracted any more information about Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito '72's involvement in a conservative alumni group.

Alito continued to disarm senators' questions, many of which sought to probe his stance on abortion, with cautious yet ostensibly satisfying answers. But he seemed unable to parry probing questions about his membership in Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP), prompting Kennedy to demand a subpoena for the private documents of William Rusher '44, one of the group's founders.

After exchanging tense words with Kennedy, chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said later during the hearings that Rusher had agreed to release the papers to Kennedy's staffers. Rusher earlier told The Daily Princetonian that he did not understand why Kennedy wanted to see his papers, given that The New York Times reporter David Kirkpatrick '92 had already reviewed them and found nothing substantial. (See related story.)

Meanwhile, Biden, just 24 hours after saying he "wasn't a big Princeton fan," announced that he wanted "set the record straight." Donning a Princeton baseball cap, he explained he was proud to wear it — "after being on campus as much as I have at Princeton" — because minorities represent 28.7 percent of the Class of 2005 and women make up 47 percent. (Read story about Biden's criticsm.)

But Biden added: "A pretty widely known debate that in the Ivies, the one, sort of, last holdout, fighting to not admit as many women and fighting not to admit as many minorities, was Princeton."

Explaining the shift in Biden's treatment of Princeton from yesterday to today, Biden press secretary Chip Unruh said in an email: "Senator Biden was simply criticizing Princeton's pre-1970s admissions policy that excluded women and lacked diversity. But he knows that just like people, institutions have the ability to change and Princeton has changed for the better. He applauds Princeton for the gains it has made and continues to make."

Graham also took an interest in Princeton, so much so that for a time he was asking more questions about Alito's alma mater than Alito himself.

"The more I know about Princeton — it's an interesting place," he said. He proceeded to ask Alito a series of questions about eating clubs, which he referred to as "eating societies."

Graham also listed prominent alumni who were once members of eating clubs, including Woodrow Wilson 1879, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld '54 and Governor of Indiana Mitch Daniels, and mentioned others — including Sen. Bill Frist '74 (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Paul Sarbanes '54 (D-Md.) whose eating club status he had yet to determine.

"I promise you I'll get to the bottom of that before this is all done," he said, concluding the unexpected inquiry on eating clubs.

Through the antics, Alito's no-frills performance seems to almost assure a majority of support in the committee, barring any damning revelations in witness testimony Thursday and Friday or an unexpected bombshell in Rusher's papers.

Kennedy demanded the papers in dramatic fashion, eventually shouting "we are entitled to this information." This followed Kennedy's aggressive questioning of Alito's motives for joining CAP, during which he gave evidence of the group's "breathtaking" insensitivity in articles published its magazine, Prospect, and in a letter sent to all members.

Alito responded in what has become a common refrain: "I racked my memory as to why I might have joined. And the issue that had bothered me for a period of time as an undergraduate and in the '80s, around the time when I made the statement, was the issue of ROTC. This was the issue about the administration of Princeton that bothered me."

He added that he hadn't seen any of the racist or sexist articles Kennedy presented and that if he had, he "would never have had anything to do with" CAP.

Alito also said he wasn't the type to join CAP, saying "there's talk about eating clubs, about all-male eating clubs. There's talk about the admission of alumni children. There's opposition to opening up the admissions process. None of that is something that I would identify with."

An unsatisfied Kennedy told Alito that his "explanations about the membership in this sort of radical group, and why you listed it on your job application, are extremely troubling. And, in fact, I don't think that they add up."

After Kennedy's demand for Rusher's papers, the hearings degenerated into a lengthy and bitter back-and-forth between Kennedy and Specter, with Kennedy insisting he had sent Specter a request for Rusher's papers late last year and Specter insisting he hadn't received the request.

Specter resolved the argument after the lunch break, saying there was a mix-up in the delivery of the request. His office had earlier not responded to repeated requests from the 'Prince' seeking a reponse to Kennedy's letter, dated Dec. 22, seeking access to Rusher's papers. (Read Kennedy's letter.)

— With updates at 6:05 p.m. EST.