Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh said today that he could not support the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito and would back an effort to block a final vote.

“There is too much ambiguity and vagueness in his record in the important areas of presidential authority, individual and civil rights and whether he will serve as an all-important check to ensure the balance our Founders intended,” Bayh said today.
The effort to block a final vote was being led by Massachusetts Sens. John Kerry and Ted Kennedy.

While Bayh called Alito’s judicial career “more than respectable,” he said his biography was not enough to go on when considering a lifetime appointment.

“The burden of proof lies with the nominee to show that he or she will be an impartial jurist and will not bring an ideological agenda to the court,” Bayh said. “Meeting this burden is more onerous since the president implied that he intended to nominate individuals acceptable to his most extreme supporters.”

Bayh also called the confirmation process a “partisan Kabuki theater” in which the nominee says as little as possible to avoid saying anything controversial.