Senators show claws at hearing, sling zingers

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The Alito confirmation hearings had been a largely placid affair, but things got downright personal yesterday between members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, accused Democrat Whip Richard J. Durbin of Illinois of hypocrisy while panel chairman Arlen Specter and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy fell out over mail delivery.

With senators coming and going, Mr. Specter, Pennsylvania Republican, instituted a rule that no more comments could be made about another member unless that member was there to defend himself. At one point, a visibly distraught Martha Alito, who had sat behind her husband through the entire hearings excused herself from the room to regain her composure.

The brouhaha came after many observers had decided that Democrats had been neutered during the first two days, mastering the art of softball pitches. The Washington Post had called the sessions "a most tender roast of Alito."

Not yesterday.

The sharpest exchange came after Mr. Kennedy accused Mr. Specter of lying about whether he had gotten a letter requesting more information from the Library of Congress that Mr. Kennedy said would shed light on Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s membership in Concerned Alumni of Princeton.

"We actually didn't get a letter," Mr. Specter said.

"You did get a letter," interrupted the Massachusetts Democrat.

Then Mr. Kennedy tried invoking a parliamentary challenge to Mr. Specter, the chairman nearly snapped his little wooden gavel as he called the meeting back to order.

"If I'm going to be denied that, I'd want to give notice to the chair that you're going to hear it again and again and again and we're going to have votes of this committee again and again and again until we have a resolution," Mr. Kennedy said.