Alito on Gay Rights

From Southern Voice:

President Bush's new pick for the U.S. Supreme Court -- Judge Samuel Alito -- wrote two opinions as a federal appeals court judge dealing with the harassment of gay students in school, likely giving both sides of the debate something to like and dislike in his rulings.

In 2000, Alito wrote an opinion on behalf of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals striking down a gay-inclusive "anti-harassment" policy adopted by a school district in State College, Pa., home to Penn State University. The policy had been challenged by a Christian conservative who said his children were compelled by their religion to criticize homosexuality as a sin.

In 2004, Alito issued an opinion in Shore Regional High School vs. P.S., reversing a federal judge's ruling that required a student who had been severely bullied for being effeminate from attending a high school with the same students who had harassed him for years.

Both opinions were written on behalf of unanimous three-judge panels of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Philadelphia.The split between the two school rulings by Alito — one striking down a broadly worded anti-harassment policy and the other protecting a student subjected to severe anti-gay harassment — suggest that while Alito is a conservative judge, he is not afraid to use the court's power to remedy a situation he views as unjust.