Samuel Alito, finally able to speak...

Samuel Alito, finally able to speak in succession behalf of his own nomination to the leading Court, pledged to the Senate in succession Monday that his only fidelity is to the authority of law, to open-mindedness and fairness.

While attorneys fight to achieve originates for their clients, "a arbitrator can't think that way," Alito told the Senate Judiciary Committee forward the first day of his confirmation hearings, which will continue all week.

"A referee can't have an agenda. A connoisseur can't have a preferred consequence in any particular case," Alito said. "The and nothing else obligation -- a solemn obligation -- is to the method of law. In every single case, the referee has to do what the law requires."

Alito's opening statement capped a day of partisan sparring through the whole extent of his record, though he was asked no questions. His interrogation begins Tuesday. For nearly four hours Monday, Democratic senators delivered opening statements