Judge Alito is described by lawyers as exceptionally bright, but much more of an ideologue than most of his colleagues. It's a trait that has led some to nickname him "Scalito," after the acerbic Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

I'm the one who nick-named Alito "Scalito." The National Law Journal article you refer to was written by Joseph Slobodzian. At the time, he and I were both reporters covering the federal courthouse in Philadelphia - he for the Philadelphia Inquirer and I for the Legal Intelligencer. He did some freelancing for NLJ and we had several discussions at the time he wrote that article. I knew as soon as it was published that my nickname would stick, but I never would have guessed just how popular it would become.

I don't believe "Scalito" itself is derogatory of Alito's Italian-American ancestory, but it could be seen that way if it's used carelessly or in conjunction with Italian-American stereotypes. As long as the purpose is to point out the similarities between Alito and Scalia, it's a perfectly legitimate shorthand.

This Wikipedia article has more information on Alito's decisions, and the site Scalito.com is under construction.

Update: Dahlia Litwick on Alito:

Alito is the kind of "restrained" jurist who isn't above striking down acts of Congress whenever they offend him. Bush noted this morning: "He has a deep understanding of the proper role of judges in our society. He understands that judges are to interpret the laws, not to impose their preferences or priorities on the people."

Except, of course, that Alito doesn't think Congress has the power to regulate machine-gun possession, or to broadly enforce the Family and Medical Leave Act, or to enact race or gender discrimination laws that might be effective in remedying race and gender discrimination, or to tackle monopolists. Alito thus neatly joins the ranks of right-wing activists in the battle to limit the power of Congress and diminish the efficacy of the judiciary.

Update: Thanks to loyal reader Ivan Raikov in comments for pointing me to this excellent post about Alito on Bitch Ph.D.:

Alito is the guy we need to filibuster.

Now, let me remind y'all of something. I didn't say the f-word about Roberts or Miers. I said I didn't support them, and I said that we shouldn't support them, and I said that the Dems should oppose them. But I didn't say "filibuster." And I even said I was "cautiously optimistic" the day before Roberts' nomination, when rumors were floating Edith Brown Clement's name (check out the July archives for confirmation). So, while I oppose pretty much everything the Bush administration has ever done, I've tried not to be all knee-jerk about it.

But from what I can tell, this Alito guy is bad, bad news.

Definitely go to the post for the extensive list of reasons why that it so, and also the links to other sources of information at the end.

Update: Publius has an interesting discussion of what it means to be "too conservative" and where Alito fits in.