Alito the Libertarian?

While he is obviously no Doug Ginsburg, Ilya Somin suggests that libertarians have some reason to be optimistic:

Most debate about Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito has focused on his propensity to vote to overrule Roe v. Wade and the similarity between him and conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. But despite the superficial parallels between the two conservative, Italian-American Catholic jurists, it is important to recognize that Alito has a substantial libertarian dimension to his jurisprudence as well as a conservative one. In several key fields of law, he is more likely than Scalia and other conservatives to be skeptical of assertions of government power. More important, there is much in his record that should appeal to libertarians and -- to a lesser extent -- even left-wing liberals.

Obviously, Alito is far from being an across-the-board libertarian. But there is much for libertarians to like in his record, more than in the case of Scalia. Liberals understandably have less reason to support Alito than libertarians do. But they should think seriously about whether they would rather have a conservative with a significant libertarian streak like Alito or a pro-government conservative who will be just as likely to overturn Roe, but less likely to vote to restrict government power over religious freedom, free speech, or immigration.