As a Maine citizen and as a student at one of Maine’s colleges, I feel the need to speak out against the confirmation of Judge Alito.

Alito has backed laws and rulings undermining privacy rights and personal freedom. He has shown his support for the overturning of Roe v. Wade and demonstrated his lack of support for the protection of women’s rights. His judicial record shows evidence of being the only dissenting vote for overturning a gender discrimination verdict, of upholding the strip-search of a mother and her 10-year-old daughter without a warrant, and of voting to weaken the Family Medical Leave Act, an act that was created to help take care of American families – our own Maine families.

We deserve a Supreme Court justice who respects our rights and is fair and open-minded in his approach. Alito’s actions have not shown him to be that person. Yet if Alito is confirmed, his term will be for a lifetime, and his rulings will have direct and extremely detrimental effects on women’s personal freedoms, rights and liberties, as well as the rights of the average American citizen.

Maine citizens have spoken about the need for Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to oppose Alito’s confirmation for the future of Maine children. I am one of these children, and I, too, am speaking out against Alito’s confirmation – for both my generation and future generations.

Sara Harris Gips, Cape Elizabeth