"I always said this one is going to be Armageddon if the president chooses a conservative because the Democrats are not going to" allow that, Hatch said. "If they want to filibuster, my position is we would

have no choice but to exercise the constitutional option."

The constitutional option, also known as the nuclear option, proposes changing Senate rules to prohibit filibusters of judicial nominees, meaning the judge would only need a majority to win confirmation.

A deal cut by 14 moderate senators averted a showdown over the option earlier this year, but some Democrats have expressed concerns over Alito's conservative record, reviving talk of the nuclear option.

One of the 14 senators, Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, said Tuesday that Alito's nomination should not be filibustered, but Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., also one of the so-called "Gang of 14," said it's too early to

take that option off the table.

Hatch said he doubts the Democrats will filibuster Alito, because he said his intellect and credentials make him a nominee that both parties will back.

Hatch also downplayed criticism that President Bush should have picked a woman to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, after the nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers was withdrawn.

"I think it's important to try to find women and minorities for the courts, and I think he tried to do that with Harriet Miers," Hatch said. "I also think it's important to find the best person you can, and I think you'll have a hard time finding anybody better than Judge Alito. I don't think this is a matter of affirmative action on the court."

Hatch's comments came Tuesday after a 45-minute meeting with the nominee. Before the meeting Alito appeared unsettled and fidgety sitting on a couch in Hatch's office in front of a cluster of cameras.

Hatch said they discussed what Alito should expect as he goes before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Hatch said those hearings could start by the end of the month or early December and he hopes that the Senate could have Alito confirmed by the end of the year.

Also on Tuesday, David Moore, a former Brigham Young University graduate who clerked for Alito, said critics who paint Alito as a right-wing conservative have it wrong.

"He is someone who is a case-by-case, fact-by-fact, diligent and open-minded jurist," said Moore, who now teaches law at the University of Kentucky. "I think even his clerks who are liberal Democrats are acknowledging that this is not a person who is an ideologue."