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You can't be too rich, too thin, or have too much access to the opinions of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, now available in a searchable format.

Search Engine Watch gets a hat tip for bringing the askSam service to everyone's attention. As the confirmation hearings rage on over Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court, people can check out how the judge has ruled in previous cases.

AskSam made a searchable database of Alito's opinions available on their web site. The site contains useful bits of Alito knowledge, including his published opinions and a searchable version of the transcripts from Judge Alito's confirmation hearing, updated daily.

The company said it has nearly 350 of Alito's legal decisions and opinions posted online, which users can sift through via a browser or download to a local Windows machine. AskSam did the same thing for opinions made by John Roberts when he was nominated to the Supreme Court; the Patriot Act and the 9-11 Commission Report likewise have searchable versions on the askSam site.

Without this kind of resource, access to those opinions in an easily searchable format would be restricted to users of the Lexis system, a subscription-based service that serves the legal community. AskSam noted over 700 of Alito's opinions can be found through a Lexis search, so askSam has performed a useful service for the Internet community at-large that wants to learn more about the nominee.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.