WASHINGTON — Tears and accusations of discrimination marked the third day of what has become a political battle over Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.

"Are you really a closet bigot?" Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) asked Alito, referring to questioning by Democrats over the appeals court judge's past membership in a controversial conservative group.

"I'm not any kind of a bigot. I'm not," Alito said.

"No sir, you're not," Graham said.

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Alito's wife Martha, who has sat quietly behind him throughout the hearings, broke down in tears and left the hearing room. She returned later with her husband, their hands locked together, after a brief recess.

Early Wednesday Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) demanded that judiciary committee chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) subpoena key documents about Alito's past membership in Concerned Alumni of Princeton, or CAP, a group formed in 1972 that advocated limited admission of women and minorities to Princeton. The group dissolved by 1986.

"I think we are entitled to this information. It deals with the fundamental issue of equality and discrimination," Kennedy said. "And if you're going to rule it out of order, I want to get a vote on that here on our committee."

Alito, 55, has no recollection of being involved in CAP, and says he has "wracked his memory" over why he would list the group on his 1985 application for the role of Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Reagan administration.

Kennedy and Specter bickered over the former's demand that an executive session be held to vote on whether the chairman should file a formal subpoena for several boxes of clippings, correspondence and club minutes — now housed at the Library of Congress — from CAP's former leader William Rusher.

"Senator Kennedy, I'm not concerned about your threats to have votes again, again and again," Specter barked, banging the gavel. "I'm the chairman of this committee ... and I'm not going to have you run this committee and decide when we're going to go into executive session."

Specter later announced that Rusher was contacted over a break and indicated he had not received a request from Kennedy for his records, but that he'd be "happy to share them with the committee."

CAP was formed in 1972 — the year Alito graduated from Princeton — by alumni who rejected the college's decision to admit women.

Samuel Alito

Sen. Kennedy read aloud to the nominee from a 1983 editorial in CAP's "Prospect" magazine, stating that: "People nowadays just don't seem to know their place. Everywhere one turns blacks and Hispanics are demanding jobs simply because they're black and Hispanic, the physically handicapped are trying to gain equal representation in professional sports, and homosexuals are demanding that government vouchsafe them the right to bear children. And now and now come women."

Alito said he had never read the essay and that he "deplored" such statements.

"If that's what anybody was endorsing, I disagree with all of that. I would never endorse it. I never have endorsed it," the judge said. "Had I thought that that's what this organization stood for, I would never associate myself with it in any way."

Alito says that Princeton's abandonment of its ROTC unit may have caused him to join CAP, yet he cannot recall ever being involved in the group's activities.

The nominee, who is battling a full-court press by Democrats who suggest he is a judge who rarely rules in favor of "the little guy," asked senators to look closer at his 15-year record as a judge on the third circuit court of appeals.

""I believe very strongly in treating everyone who comes before me absolutely equal," Alito said. "I think that if anybody looks at the cases that I voted on ... they will see that there are decisions on both sides."

Republicans Wednesday accused Democrats of "cherry-picking" through Alito's cases, culling for rulings that did not suit their political preferences.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) entered into the record a list of 13 cases where Alito "ruled for the little guy."

Others cited Alito's earning of a "well qualified" rating, the highest given, from the American Bar Association both times he has come before the committee.

"I've got reams of quotes from people who have worked with you," Sen. Graham said. "Glowing quotes about who you are and the way you've lived your life. Law clerks, men and women, black and white, who say Samuel Alito — if I agree with him or not — is a really good man."

Graham recalled the hearings for now-Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a former attorney for the ACLU who was a vocal supporter of abortion rights, and yet enjoyed a confirmation from the Senate in 1993 with a 96-vote margin.

Alito is not likely to receive such a high margin, but with a 55-seat majority Republican Senate, he is almost certain to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who submitted her resignation on July 1.

"Let me tell you this: Guilt by association is going to drive good men and women away from wanting to sit where you're sitting," Graham warned the committee, before turning his remarks to the nominee. "Judge Alito, I am sorry that you've had to go through this. I am sorry that your family has had to sit here and listen to this."