Alito so far:  AP legal reporter Mark Sherman looks at the developing voting record of US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in death penalty and other cases in this article for AP, entitled "After 15 months on the bench, Alito shows his colors."

Excerpt:
In his 15 months on the Supreme Court, Justice Samuel Alito has been everything his conservative supporters expected and his liberal detractors feared.

The newest justice has been a reliable vote in favor of the death penalty, expanded police powers and restrictions on abortion.

...Alito has voted with Chief Justice John Roberts, Scalia and Thomas in every case in which the court has been ideologically divided.

When they've been joined by Justice Anthony Kennedy, they've had a majority to uphold the first nationwide ban on an abortion procedure, to reinstate death sentences in California and Kansas and to give police more freedom to barge into homes and seize evidence.

...Could Alito turn out to be more like Souter or Justice Harry Blackmun, another Republican appointee who became more liberal during his time on the court?

It's not likely, suggests a recent study by Columbia Law School professor Michael Dorf.

Republican nominees who previously served in the executive branch have been "steadfastly conservative," far less likely to drift left than fellow Republicans who joined the court without serving in a GOP administration.

On the current court, Alito, Roberts, Scalia and Thomas all worked in the executive branch. Republican nominees Kennedy, Souter and Stevens did not.