***update – Alito passes the committee on a party-line vote – 10-8***

The Dems are gearing up on a party-line vote against SCOTUS nominee Samuel Alito. Here’s the latest from AP:

The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to approve the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel Alito Tuesday, with the vote expected to be along party lines.

Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he’d be “sorry” to see a party-line vote.

The panel’s top Democrat said he wishes President George W. Bush had chosen a nominee the entire country could support. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said there are “dozens upon dozens” of highly qualified candidates who would have gotten an overwhelming vote.

Leahy said he believes Alito’s nomination is part of the president’s “radical realignment” of government power. But Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, called Alito “one of the most well-qualified nominees ever nominated to serve on the Supreme Court.”

All 10 Republicans on the panel have already said they’d vote for Alito. A 10-8 party-line vote might normally indicate the possibility of a filibuster, but Democrats aren’t expected to do that with Alito.

Democrats are working to limit the votes he gets when the full Senate considers the nomination. The timing of that vote remains unclear, though it could come at the end of this week.

Been watching a bit of the Senate Judiciary Committee bloviations on C-SPAN, and liked the response from GOP Sen. Lindsay Graham:

Let me tell you another thing that’s not good for the country. [Reading from a news article:] “With little chance of stopping Judge Alito’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, Senate Democratic leaders urged their members to vote against him in an effort to lay the groundwork for making a campaign issue of his decisions on the court.”

I’ll just tell you right now. We welcome that debate. We’ll clean your clock.

I mean, Judge Alito is closer to the mainstream of America than Citizens (sic) for an American Way.

We’ll win that debate, but the judiciary will lose if we continue to do this.

***

Polipundit says the Dems will come to regret their Alito Standard.