Sen. Sam Brownback was one of the first conservatives out of the gate to express doubts about Harriet Miers when she was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Monday, the Kansas Republican was one of the first to praise the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. Brownback had long said he expected the next nominated justice to be unquestionably against abortion rights – and Alito’s judicial record suggests he fits the bill.

“I commend the president and congratulate Judge Alito on this nomination,” said Brownback in a written statement. He is a member of the Judiciary Committee that will hold hearings on the nomination.

Brownback added later, in an interview with Associated Press, that Alito is “an outstanding jurist, bright and well-known and well-regarded.”

Other Kansas conservatives had similar reactions.

“I urge the Senate to affirm this clearly qualified jurist,” said Kansas Atty. Gen. Phill Kline, adding that only the U.S. Supreme Court could clear up the “confusion and uncertainty” created when the Kansas Supreme Court struck down the state’s death penalty law last year.

• 6News video: KU’s law school sounds off on new Supreme Court nominee (10-31-05)
• Court choice darling of right (11-01-05)
• Kansas senator may have been key in Miers case (10-28-05)
• Conservatives elated as Miers folds; new nominee could be named today (10-28-05)

But Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri sent out a statement opposing Alito’s nomination.

“Judge Alito would undermine basic reproductive rights,” said Karen Pearl, interim president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, a Republican, was more cautious than Brownback, saying he was still learning about Alito’s background and judicial leanings.

“Judge Alito has an impressive judicial background,” Roberts said in a written statement. “I look forward to learning more about him through the nomination process.”