According to Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr., the First Amendment puts few limitations on politically powerful majorities' ability to use the machinery of government to advance their religious views, even at the expense of the religious freedom of minorities.  Replacing Justice Sandra Day O'Connor with Judge Alito would fundamentally alter First Amendment law and immediately put at risk many of the crucual protections for religious minorities that the Supreme Court has recognized and consistently enforced over the past sixty years.

In a press release issued with the report, Barry Lynn, Executive Director of AU said,

Judge Alito appears to be exactly what the extreme right wants for the nation's top court a judge eager to seriously weaken the wall separating religion and government.  As a federal appeals court judge, Alito has consistently sided with powerful religious groups who have sought government help in promoting their work.

In my opinion, religious liberty for everyone -- not just Christians -- is our first freedom.  It's the first freedom because it is the bedrock foundation upon which every other form of freedom rests.  It secures our right to a free conscience and protects the rights of minorities.  If you can strip away the right of any minority to worship as they please, to be free from indoctrination into someone else's religion, and to be exempt from paying taxes to support someone else's faith, then you can undermine any other right that minorities enjoy in our society.

I encourage others to join AU in opposing the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.