Tonight, David Halperin, the director of Campus Progress, delivered these remarks to students at Princeton University as part of our series of campus talks, "The Alito Nomination: What's at Stake."

Students here at Princeton know the stakes of judicial nominations. You had the attention of the whole country last spring for the amazing protest you staged here at the Frist Center and at the Capitol in Washington when Senator Frist threatened to launch the nuclear option on judges. Campus Progress was honored to work with you on that. And I'm grateful that you have invited me - and my colleague Emily Hawkins -- here to discuss the nomination of Samuel Alito, Princeton '72, to the Supreme Court.

…Honesty and integrity requires that you don't pump up membership in a group on your resume in hopes of getting one job and then, when you're up for another job where that membership isn't so attractive, claim you don't recall being a member at all.

As you all know, in 1985, when he wanted to impress the Reagan Administration with his right-wing credentials, Samuel Alito boasted about being a member of the Concerned Alumni of Princeton.

This group, as you also know, aggressively expressed its opposition to increasing the number of women, African Americans, and Latinos at Princeton. One article they published included this passage:

"People nowadays just don't seem to know their place. Everywhere one turns, blacks and Hispanics are demanding jobs simply because they're black and Hispanic. The physically handicapped are trying to gain equal representation in professional sports. And homosexuals are demanding the government vouchsafe them the right to bear children."

There's plenty more. At the Princeton library this week we found a Daily Princetonian interview in which Concerned Alumni's founder, Shelby Cullom Davis, said that freedom of choice should include the right to all-white schools, and compared Princeton to Germany under Hitler.

Now, faced with Senators skeptical of his commitment to fair justice, Judge Alito says he doesn't remember being involved with Concerned Alumni. But as a good lawyer he argues in the alternative. He doesn't remember, but if he does remember he remembers that he joined not because of the group's bigoted views but because of its support for ROTC.

It's good lawyering. It's not credible testimony.

I know you're proud of Princeton, and I'll bet many of you would be proud to have another Princetonian on the Supreme Court. I went to Yale Law School, also Samuel Alito's school, and I wouldn't mind if another Yale Law graduate was on the Court. And I don't doubt that Samuel Alito is basically a decent family man. I also admire that Samuel Alito is a devoted activist and public servant in pursuit of deeply-held beliefs. But Samuel Alito should not be on the Supreme Court. And the reasons go beyond his troubling non-explanation for being a member of Concerned Alumni of Princeton.

Samuel Alito's record is one of consistent legal extremism. As a lawyer in the Reagan administration, he expressed opposition to Roe v. Wade and the principle of one man one vote. He said the federal government had no business protecting the health and safety of Americans. He argued that the Attorney General should get a free pass for illegally wiretapping American citizens. He argued in favor of letting states give police the power to shoot to kill at their discretion whenever a suspect flees, whether or not the suspect poses a threat. In that case, involving the shooting death of a 15-year-old 8th grader, the Supreme Court later sharply disagreed.

As a federal judge here in New Jersey, almost any time a legal question is remotely close, almost any time he is not constrained by clear precedent, Judge Alito has sided with the government and against the interests of ordinary people. The only time the government loses is when the government acts to protect the people - that is, when a corporation sues the government to prevent enforcement of laws protecting health, safety, and the environment.

Virtually alone among federal judges in America, Judge Alito argued that the federal government lacked the power to ban the possession of machine guns.

Judge Alito voted to strike down the bipartisan federal law that gave state workers the right to take unpaid sick leave. The Supreme Court then rejected this ruling.

Judge Alito voted to uphold the strip search of a child not covered by a search warrant - a view harshly rejected by another prominent New Jersey federal judge, Michael Chertoff, who is now our nation's Homeland Security Secretary.

Judge Alito voted again and again to make it harder for victims of discrimination to prove their case. In one case his colleagues said that Judge Alito's view would eviscerate the laws against job discrimination.

Judge Alito voted to limit a woman's right to choose by upholding a Pennsylvania anti-abortion law. The Supreme Court later struck down that law as violating Roe v. Wade.

And now President Bush wants this Judge Alito on the Supreme Court. There's an agenda here. It's the agenda of the extreme right. It's the agenda of the campus conservative groups that right-wingers in Washington fund to the tune of $35 million a year. It's the agenda of graduates of that conservative farm team, like Dinesh D'Souza and Laura Ingraham - both one-time editors at the Prospect, the magazine of - yes - Conservative Alumni of Princeton.

They want to change America by stacking the Court. They want to replace a moderate conservative, independent swing justice, Sandra Day O'Connor, with a reliable vote for their extreme views.

One more point: The Alito nomination comes as we face a serious constitutional debate, maybe even a crisis. After 9-11, President Bush has claimed extraordinary powers to imprison Americans outside the judicial system, to engage in illegal surveillance of U.S. citizens, and to employ highly coercive interrogation tactics against prisoners - all in violation of existing laws.

The Supreme Court does, and should, defer to the authorities of the President in many instances. But sometimes a President has gone too far, and the Supreme Court has stood up for the Constitution and individual rights. During the Korean War, the Court rebuked President Truman for his claim of inherent power to seize America's steel mills. And two years ago in a case brought by an American citizen President Bush had declared an "enemy combatant," Justice O'Connor declared for the Court that "a state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation's citizens."

Now the President is asking the Senate to replace Justice O'Connor with a judge whose record is one of fervent devotion to presidential authority.

I say that Samuel Alito's America is not our America - because our America honors and protects civil rights and human dignity. Our America protects us from unsafe workplaces and toxic pollution. Our America guards against unchecked executive power that imperils freedom.

Nothing in his three days of dodging testimony undercuts the reality that Samuel Alito is about as extreme as any federal judge today. If he goes on the Supreme Court - if any judge deemed more competent than Harrier Miers gets to be on the court on the basis of competence alone, no matter how extreme - then we will end up with more Alitos, with a court of extremists, a court that stops protecting basic freedoms.

The Senate - with a good number of Republicans voting against confirmation - rejected Robert Bork precisely because his views were unacceptably extreme. Samuel Alito should be rejected for the very same reason.

That's why students here at Princeton have come together, at a time when you need instead to be studying for exams, to instead devote time to standing up against Samuel Alito's nomination.

That's why the Center for American Progress and the Campus Progress division I run are working with young people across the country on our AlitosAmerica campaign. Even though holidays and exams have made it tougher to mobilize, students working with us have organized in 22 states so far. Please visit AlitosAmerica.org to learn how you can get involved. We have a video that shows how crazy and backwards the world might be with a court full of Samuel Alitos. We have a Photo Petition that allows you to express your views. Please act now - next week we will present that petition in Washington. In fact, if you don't have exams next Thursday, you can come down to DC for a rally at 12:30 in front of the Supreme Court. We'll have some great speakers, and at least one great musical act from New Jersey.

Now I have to be honest. The decked is stacked in favor President Bush and Judge Alito. Most of the money, money for advertising and spinning the media, is on their side. Judge Alito's fans in the legal world are his cheerleaders. Meanwhile, I can tell you from experience, some of the greatest legal heavyweights in America - Democrats, Republicans, independents -- who know in their hearts and minds that Judge Alito is bad for America won't speak up. Why? Some because they paid a price among colleagues for opposing Robert Bork. Others because they still practice law before the Supreme Court and don't want to risk losing the vote of a Justice Alito for the rest of their careers.

So it's up to ordinary Americans - and you extraordinary Princetonians - to stand up for what is right and what makes sense for our future. To stand up for freedom, equality, and choice. If some older people are ready to throw up their hands and say, there's nothing we can do, then we need you. Young people would have to live in Alito's America - live with the results of his judicial extremism - not just this year but for 50 years or more.