Sen. Chuck Hagel said Wednesday he’ll support Judge Samuel Alito’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. After meeting with Alito in his Senate office, Hagel issued a statement declaring he will “enthusiastically endorse and support” the nominee.

“There should be widespread support in the Senate for a fair up-or-down vote on Judge Alito,” Nebraska’s Republican senator said.

Hagel’s office said their discussion touched on centralization of federal government power, civil rights and individual rights.

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson said he “didn’t see anything that would drive me away from him” after a discussion in his Senate office with Alito.

Nelson said he looks forward to learning more about the judge as the confirmation process unfolds.

“We had a very intense discussion about his judicial philosophy,” Nelson said in a telephone interview.  “I was comfortable he is not setting out to be a judicial activist.  He’s not interested in being a legislator rather than an adjudicator.”

The topic of abortion was broached during their discussion, Nelson said.

“It came up in the context of what states could do to put in certain limitations, such as parental consent and a waiting period,” he said.

Both kinds of restrictions were adopted in Nebraska while he was governor, Nelson said.

“I did not get from him (any sense) he would be going on the bench to erode or overturn Roe v. Wade,” Nelson said. That’s the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision establishing abortion rights.

Alito indicated that “the longer stare decisis was in place, the more careful you should be in making any changes to it,” Nelson said.

Stare decisis is a legal term for settled precedent.

Nelson said he does not hear any of his Democratic colleagues in the so-called “Gang of 14” talking about abandoning their previous agreement to give judicial nominees an up-or-down vote.

Under the agreement forged by seven Democrats and seven Republicans last spring, the Democratic members would refuse to engage in a filibuster except in “extraordinary circumstances.”

In exchange, the Republican members pledged not to support a GOP plan to eliminate the right to filibuster judicial nominees.

The gang will meet today in the office of Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona to discuss its role in the Alito nomination.

Two Republican senators, Mike DeWine of Ohio and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, signaled they may abandon their promise not to support the so-called “nuclear option” of erasing the right to filibuster, The Associated Press reported.

“People like Lindsey Graham and I, who were part of that group, I think you can bet we’ll be willing to vote to change the rules of the Senate so that we do not have a filibuster,” DeWine said.

Alito has a Nebraska connection, he informed both Nelson and Hagel.

His father-in-law, Bobby Gene Baumgardner, is a graduate of the University of Nebraska.

Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or at dwalton@journalstar.com.

The ‘Gang of 14’:

Republicans:

John Warner, Va.; John McCain, Ariz.; Olympia Snowe, Maine; Mike DeWine, Ohio; Susan Collins, Maine; Lindsey Graham, S.C.; Lincoln Chafee, R.I.

Democrats:

Joe Lieberman, Conn.; Ben Nelson, Neb.; Mark Pryor, Ark.; Robert Byrd, W.Va.; Mary Landrieu, La.; Ken Salazar, Colo.; Daniel Inouye, Hawaii.