“In the questionnaire Alito submitted to the Senate in 1990, when he was up for a seat on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, he wrote of his military service:

“I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army upon graduation from college in 1972. After law school, I was on active duty for training from September to December 1975. I was in the Army reserves from 1972 to 1980, when I was honorably discharged as a captain.”

Documents from Princeton show that Alito, then an Army cadet, received six weeks of “practical application in military leadership at the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps’ basic summer camp at Fort Knox, Ky., June 12 to July 23″ in 1970.

“He will train as a small unit leader and instructor in realistic exercises, and will receive command experience and the opportunity to apply classroom knowledge in the field,” the document said.

Alito delayed entering the service while at law school and then spent time in 1975 at Fort Gordon, Ga., for signal officer training. He was on the inactive reserve for a period and then promoted to captain before he was honorably discharged in 1980.”

“Mr. Dwyer said he was not surprised when his friend joined the R.O.T.C. at Princeton after he learned his number in the draft lottery in his sophomore year. “We were all worried about the draft, and Sam’s number was really low – 25, give or take,” Mr. Dwyer said. “Being in R.O.T.C. was a way to be an officer, and that would seem to be better than being an enlisted man.”

“With campuses nationwide embroiled in Vietnam War protests, Princeton decided in 1970 to phase out the R.O.T.C., allowing those already enrolled to finish up. When Judge Alito graduated in 1972, he was just one of 12 R.O.T.C. members in the class.

“He was commissioned as an Army second lieutenant at graduation, but went to law school and served on active duty for just three months in 1975, though he remained in the Army Reserve until 1980.”

Where did he serve in the Army Reserve? Where did he serve on active duty? And why did he re-enlist?

Judge Alito was among a handful of ROTC members at Princeton, according to the campus newspaper yesterday.

Where did he serve in the Army Reserve and why did he re-enlist in 1978?

It’s ironic that he is not getting more credit for his rulings in support of civil liberties. Alito has issued landmark decisions upholding the First Amendment rights of students, the press, businesses, and trade associations (e.g., Pfizer v. Giles (1995), Pitt News v. Pappert (2004)). In summarizing his record, the ACLU doesn’t mention any of these decisions. It should have. Freedom of speech is at the core of civil liberties.

Alito’s rulings have also shown a grasp of the regulatory and legal challenges facing businesses, which often seems lacking on the current Supreme Court.

The vast majority of the decisions authored by Judge Alito, including his most important decisions, have been unanimous decisions, joined by his colleagues of both political parties.

Judge Alito is well within the judicial mainstream. He has experience and expertise in the kinds of cases that the Supreme Court handles and, by any measure, is well-qualified to sit on the Supreme Court.

Judge Alito’s service in the U.S. Army Reserve is interesting:

AB, Princeton, 1972; JD, Yale, 1975.

Served in the Army Reserves from 1972 until 1980 when he was discharged as a captain. (The typical committment was for six years. Did he re-enlist while working for as an assistant U.S. Attorney? Why?

Alito clerked for Judge Leonard Garth of the Third Circuit, who is now his colleague on that court, from 1976 to 1977.

From 1977-1980, Alito served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the appellate division, where he argued cases before the circuit court to which he was later appointed.

So, what did he do in the U.S. Army Reserve?

Why did he join after graduating from Princeton? Was he ROTC?

The Vietnam draft was ending in June 1972, if I recall correctly.