Bush nominates Alito

US President George W. Bush nominated Judge Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court yesterday in a move that set up a showdown with Democrats but placated conservatives who bitterly rejected his last choice.

The new nomination came as Mr Bush tries to make a course correction in his struggling presidency after a tough week in which a vice presidential aide was indicted and his first choice for a court vacancy, White House counsel Harriet Miers, withdrew due to a conservative backlash.

Democrats immediately expressed concern that Mr Alito, a conservative in the mold of Justice Antonin Scalia, would swing the balance of power toward the right in the highest US court and put abortion rights in jeopardy.

But Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, asked if he believed a blocking filibuster tactic by Democrats could be avoided, said, "I think so."

Mr Bush went out of his way to emphasize Mr Alito's lengthy resume after his October 3 choice of Ms Miers angered conservatives who questioned her credentials and intellectual heft. Mr Alito would replace the retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor if confirmed for the lifetime job by the US Senate.