WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito says he never has violated conflict-of-interest guidelines as a judge, despite questions about two lower court rulings he made involving an investment firm and a brokerage house that handled part of his financial portfolio.

"To the best of my knowledge, I have not ruled on a case for which I had a legal or ethical obligation to recuse myself during my 15 years on the federal bench," Alito said Thursday as an influential Republican senator urged him to publicly answer questions about his legal rulings concerning the Vanguard Group and Smith Barney, Inc.

In an unusual letter prompted by Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., Alito said he was "unduly restrictive" in promising the committee in 1990 to avoid appeals cases involving the two investment firms, First Federal Savings & Loan of Rochester, N.Y., and his sister's law firm.

When he listed the companies, "my intention was to state that I would never knowingly hear a case where a conflict of interest existed. ... As my service continued, I realized that I had been unduly restrictive," Alito said.

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Alito said he only invests with Vanguard and Smith Barney and doesn't hold any interest in the companies.

Alito issued the letter one day after all eight Democrats on the committee called for voluminous records involving a 2002 case in which Vanguard was a defendant.

Democrats addressed their letter to the chief judge of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where Alito has been a judge since 1990, and did not accuse Alito of bending his ruling to favor Vanguard. Instead, they raised possible conflict of interest concerns, and said he had violated the promise he made to the committee 15 years ago during his confirmation to the appeals court.

Even so, the Democratic challenge prompted Specter on Thursday to write Alito suggesting a quick response. "I think it is important that the issues be addressed promptly since a number of senators have expressed concerns," Specter advised.

Alito was nominated by the White House to succeed retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, whose judicial rulings sometimes have made her the deciding vote on the Supreme Court on issues such as abortion and affirmative action.

Confirmation hearings for Alito are scheduled for Jan. 9, and Wednesday's letter from Democrats on the panel marked their first organized challenge to his nomination.

Specter said he thinks "there has been no impropriety." But he added that "we have seen issues which may be minor, unmeritorious and even nonexistent proliferate into major controversies by those who are opposed for other reasons."

In the 2002 case, Shantee Maharaj, who had lost a suit against Vanguard, sought a rehearing after learning Alito held investments with the mutual fund company. She sought to have the ruling erased and Alito disqualified from further proceedings.

Alito said Thursday he did not believe he was required to disqualify himself on the basis of ownership of shares in a mutual fund but "voluntarily recused myself once my participation was called into question."

The White House and senators have said there was a computer glitch that allowed the disqualification issue to slip through undetected in the first place, but Alito only mentioned an "oversight" in the letter to Specter.

Alito's letter also said he decided a case involving Smith Barney, but added it did not fall under judicial conflict-of-interest guidelines. "Smith Barney is my brokerage firm and I hold no interest in the firm itself," the judge said in the letter.

Senators will get more information about Alito when he gives them his answers to a 12-page questionnaire the Judiciary Committee sent him Thursday.