U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. called himself a strong conservative in a newly released document from his days in the Reagan administration in the 1980s.

In seeking a promotion at the Department of Justice, Alito wrote of his views on several controversial topics. He said the U.S. Constitution doesn't protect the right to an abortion, that certain affirmative action programs are illegal and that he was "particularly proud" of his work to advance conservative causes.

"I am and always have been a conservative," he wrote [Link] in his successful bid from assistant to the solicitor general to deputy assistant to then-U.S> Attorney General Edwin Meese III.

The letter was among 168 pages of documents released yesterday by the National Archives.

Get the Story:
No Right to Abortion, Alito Argued in 1985 (The Washington Post 11/15)
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'85 Document Opens Window to Alito Views (The New York Times 11/15)
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Alito Documents:
Ronald Reagan Library | George W. Bush Library

Relevant Links:
Judicial Nominations, White House - http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/judicialnominees

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