During this week's Senate hearings for the Supreme Court nomination of Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Samuel Alito, U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum had a question: Why is his Democratic opponent, Bob Casey Jr., not commenting on the could-be Supreme?

"Judge Samuel Alito is a highly qualified and well-regarded jurist, and unfortunately, Sen. Santorum's likely opponent, Bobby Casey Jr., has yet to speak out about his nomination," stated Vince Galko, Santorum's campaign manager. "Pennsylvanians should be extremely troubled that Casey, who is trying to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate, is getting a pass on speaking to this important issue. Casey's silence raises a number of questions that should be asked of him."

Galko's statement is just one of many missives directed at Casey in the past six weeks. Santorum has been trying to call Casey out; the campaign's message has been that Casey is hiding. They regularly note that Casey hasn't scheduled any debates.

"Let's debate now," said Santorum's press secretary Virginia Davis. "What does Bobby Casey stand for? On such an important issue such as the nomination of Justice Alito, Casey has said nothing."

The Casey campaign remains unphased by the pressure.

"As I'm sure Sen. Santorum is aware, senators vote on a nominee after the confirmation hearings, not before," replied Larry Smar, Casey's communications and policy director. "Bob Casey will announce how he would vote on the Alito nomination after all the information is in. Announcing a position prior to the confirmation hearings would be irresponsible."

Some local conservatives want to make sure that they will never have to attend a same-sex wedding in their church and that their children won't be recruited to the gay lifestyle.

Even though President George W. Bush has long since ditched his federal proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution that would have defined marriage as only being between a man and a woman, Pennsylvania ultraconservatives are lobbying the state House to pass a similar amendment.

An amendment to the state constitution must first be introduced and passed twice in the legislature before going to a vote of the citizens. The Pennsylvania Family Institute is busy seeking support in the House and Senate for the first step.

Michael Geer, the president of the Pennsylvania Family Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit located in Harrisburg, said the effort is not meant to be mean-spirited toward gays and lesbians. "We only want to make sure that marriage is clearly defined and protects the family," said Geer, whose group was instrumental in promoting former Gov. Tom Ridge's Defense of Marriage Act in 1996.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is equally as busy lobbying House members and the public not to support the amendment. They're circulating petitions in opposition. LibertyPA, a statewide group supporting progressive Democrats, had a pub crawl last Saturday night in the Gayborhood to energize members of the community to sign a petition against the amendment.

Doug Shaps, executive director of OutFront!, an LGBT advocacy and lobbying organization, said that Value All Families, a coalition of supporters including his group, the ACLU, LibertyPA and the Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights, is rallying their members to counteract the Pennsylvania Family Institute message. "I believe their effort stems from the nondiscrimination bill pending in the Senate that protects the gay community from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations," Shaps said.

State Rep. Scott Boyd (R-Lancaster) plans to introduce the Marriage Protection Amendment when the House reconvenes at the end of the month. Geer said the bill has support, but declined to define how much.

His organization maintains that despite the situation in Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage is legal and the state has neither fallen into the sea nor seen anyone harmed as a result, the institution of marriage is under attack. They fear that activist judges will interpret marriage differently.

"All the textbooks now have changes," he said. "A 5-year-old came home from school after learning in a textbook that same-sex couples are the same as heterosexual married couples. His father went into the school and said he did not want his child learning about untruths. And the gays want to change birth certificates there. Instead of mother's name and father's name, it would be parent A and parent B."

What about the effects that the amendment might have in denying same-sex couples the right to make important health care or other life decisions for their partner?

"They can always petition the state for those rights," Geer said. "We are only interested in protecting the institution of marriage."

Shaps disagreed with Geer here, too: "Anything that prevents our civil rights and limits us is unconstitutional."