Michelle Malkin has a huge amount of updates.

Nicknamed “Scalito” for views resembling those of conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito Jr. is a favorite son of the political right. Appointed in 1990 by George H.W. Bush to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Alito has earned a reputation for intellectual rigor and polite but frequent dissent in a court that has been historically liberal. His mettle, as well as a personable demeanor and ties to former Republican administrations, has long had observers buzzing about his potential rise to the high court. “Sam Alito is in my mind the strongest candidate on the list,” says Pepperdine law Prof. Douglas Kmiec. “I know them all . . . but I think Sam is a standout because he’s a judge’s judge. He approaches cases with impartiality and open-mindedness.”

A New Jersey native, the 55-year-old Alito received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton and graduated from Yale Law School. He worked in the solicitor general’s office during the Reagan administration and was a U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey when George H.W. Bush nominated him to the Third Circuit. His 15 years on the bench have been marked by strong conservatism on a case-by-case basis that avoids sweeping opinions on constitutionality.

In 1997, Alito authored the majority opinion upholding a city’s right to stage a holiday display that included a Nativity scene and a menorah because the city also included secular symbols and a banner emphasizing the importance of diversity. In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Alito was the sole dissenter on the Third Circuit, which struck a Pennsylvania law that required women seeking abortions to consult their husbands. He argued that many of the potential reasons for an abortion, such as “economic constraints, future plans, or the husbands’ previously expressed opposition . . . may be obviated by discussion prior to abortion.” The case went on to the Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court’s decision 6 to 3.

Harry Reid hates him.

“This is not one of the names I’ve suggested to the president,” Reid said yesterday of Alito on CNN’s “Late Edition.”

“In fact, I’ve done the opposite,” he said. “I think it would create a lot of problems.”

Well, boo-hoo.

Here is the video. David Frum likes this nominee. As do I.

Stay tuned to Square Talk Radio for a late show, that was recorded before we knew who would be nominated. We predicted a woman, which was incorrect. But we also predicted Bush would choose a conservative, and that the Right would get behind this nominee full-force. We knew he’d made an ingenius move with nominating Miers first, then removing her. Brilliant.