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Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. ( ; born April 1, 1950) is an American jurist who serves as an
associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States An associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is a Justice (title), justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, other than the chief justice of the United States. The number of associate justices is eight, as set by the J ...
. He was
nominated A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group or election to an office, in which case a ...
to the high court by President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
on October 31, 2005, and has served on it since January 31, 2006. After
Antonin Scalia Antonin Gregory Scalia (March 11, 1936 â€“ February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectual an ...
, Alito is the second
Italian American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...
justice to serve on the
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
. Alito was raised in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, and graduated from
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
and
Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...
. After law school, he worked as an assistant attorney general for the
Office of Legal Counsel The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that supports the attorney general in their role as legal adviser to the president and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the atto ...
and served as the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey. In 1990, Alito was appointed as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, where he served until joining the Supreme Court. He has called himself a "practical originalist" and is a member of the Supreme Court's conservative bloc. Alito has written majority opinions in the
landmark cases Landmark court decisions, in present-day common law legal systems, establish precedents that determine a significant new legal principle or concept, or otherwise substantially affect the interpretation of existing law. "Leading case" is commonly u ...
''
McDonald v. Chicago ''McDonald v. City of Chicago'', 561 U.S. 742 (2010), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that found that the right of an individual to "keep and bear arms", as protected under the Second Amendment, is incorporate ...
'' (2010) on firearm rights, ''
Burwell v. Hobby Lobby ''Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.'', 573 U.S. 682 (2014), is a landmark decision in United States corporate law by the United States Supreme Court allowing privately held for-profit corporations to be exempt from a regulation that its owners ...
'' (2014) on insurance coverage, ''
Janus v. AFSCME ''Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31'', 585 U.S. 878 (2018), abbreviated ''Janus v. AFSCME'', is a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court on US labor law, concerning the power of labor unions ...
'' (2018) on public-sector union security agreements, and ''
Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ''Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'', 597 U.S. 215 (2022), is a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court in which the court held ...
'' (2022) on abortion.


Early life and education

Alito was born in Trenton, New Jersey. He was the son of Samuel A. Alito Sr., a
Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...
n immigrant from
Roccella Ionica Roccella Ionica (; also known as Roccella Jonica or simply as Roccella ( Roccellese: ) is a town and ''comune'' located on the Ionian Sea in Calabria, southern Italy. Possibly built on the site of the ancient Greek settlement of Amphissa, Roccel ...
,
Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...
, and Rose Fradusco, an
Italian-American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...
whose parents came from
Palazzo San Gervasio Palazzo San Gervasio ( Lucano: ) is a small agricultural town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. It is bounded by the comuni (Municipalities) of Acerenza, Banzi, Forenza, Genzano di Luc ...
in
Basilicata Basilicata (, ; ), also known by its ancient name Lucania (, , ), is an administrative region in Southern Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south. It has two coastlines: a 30-kilometr ...
. Alito's father earned a master's degree at
Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
and was a high school teacher and later the first director of the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services, a state government position he held from 1952 to 1984. Alito's mother was a schoolteacher. Alito grew up in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, a suburb of Trenton. He attended
Steinert High School Steinert High School (also formally known as Hamilton High School East) is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as one of three secondary high schools that are part of the Hamilton Towns ...
, where he graduated in 1968 as the class
valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...
, subsequently matriculating at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
. In 1972, he graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
, ''
summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...
'', from the
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (''abbrev.'' SPIA; formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of c ...
. His senior thesis, supervised by political scientist Walter F. Murphy, was entitled "An Introduction to the Italian Constitutional Court". At Princeton, Alito chaired a student conference in 1971 called "The Boundaries of Privacy in American Society", which supported curbs on domestic intelligence gathering and anticipated the need for a statute and a court to oversee national security surveillance. The conference report itself also called for the
decriminalization Decriminalization or decriminalisation is the legislative process which removes prosecutions against an action so that the action remains illegal but has no criminal penalties or at most some civil fine. This reform is sometimes applied retroacti ...
of
sodomy Sodomy (), also called buggery in British English, principally refers to either anal sex (but occasionally also oral sex) between people, or any Human sexual activity, sexual activity between a human and another animal (Zoophilia, bestiality). I ...
, and urged an end to discrimination against
gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...
people in hiring. Alito also led the
American Whig-Cliosophic Society American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, ...
's Debate Panel during his time at Princeton. He avoided Princeton's
eating clubs A dining club (UK) or eating club (US) is a social group, usually requiring membership (which may, or may not be available only to certain people), which meets for dinners and discussion on a regular basis. They may also often have guest speakers ...
, joining Stevenson Hall instead. In December 1969, while a sophomore at Princeton, Alito received a low lottery number of 32 in the
Selective Service The Selective Service System (SSS) is an independent agency of the United States government that maintains a database of registered male U.S. citizens and other U.S. residents potentially subject to military conscription (i.e., the draft). ...
drawing. He became a member of the school's
Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC; or ) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...
program.The Washington Post (November 3, 2005
"Alito Joined ROTC While at Princeton"
.
Alito was commissioned a second lieutenant in the
United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed ...
in 1972. He began his military duty after graduating from law school in 1975 and served on active duty from September to December while attending the
Signal A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. In ...
Officer Basic Course at
Fort Gordon Fort Gordon, formerly known as Fort Eisenhower and Camp Gordon, is a United States Army installation established southwest of Augusta, Georgia in October 1941. It is the current home of the United States Army Signal Corps, United States Army Cy ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
. Alito was promoted to
first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...
and
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
, and completed his service obligation as a member of the inactive reserve before being honorably discharged in 1980. At Princeton, Alito was "almost alone" in his familiarity with the writings of
John Marshall Harlan II John Marshall Harlan (May 20, 1899 â€“ December 29, 1971) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1955 to 1971. Harlan is usually called John Marshall Harlan II to distinguish hi ...
Bernstein, Mark F. (2006
"A Tiger on the Court: Sam Alito '72 at Princeton,"
''Princeton Alumni Weekly'', March 8. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
and was much influenced by the course on constitutional interpretation taught by Walter F. Murphy, also his faculty adviser. During his senior year at Princeton, Alito moved out of New Jersey for the first time to study in Italy, where he wrote his thesis on the Italian legal system. Graduating in 1972, Alito left a sign of his aspirations in his yearbook, which said that he hoped to "eventually warm a seat on the Supreme Court". Alito then attended
Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...
, where he served as an editor of the ''
Yale Law Journal ''The Yale Law Journal'' (YLJ) is a student-run law review affiliated with the Yale Law School. Published continuously since 1891, it is the most widely known of the eight law reviews published by students at Yale Law School. The journal is one ...
'' and earned a
Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
in 1975.


Early legal career

After graduating from law school, Alito clerked for
Third Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts: * District of Delaware * District of New Jersey * Eas ...
appeals judge Leonard I. Garth in
Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...
, in 1976 and 1977. He interviewed with Supreme Court Justice
Byron White Byron Raymond "Whizzer" White (June 8, 1917 – April 15, 2002) was an American lawyer, jurist, and professional American football, football player who served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, associate justice of the Supreme ...
for a clerkship but was not hired. Between 1977 and 1981, Alito was Assistant
United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...
, District of New Jersey. There, he served under the then-chief of the appeals division Assistant U.S. Attorney,
Maryanne Trump Barry Maryanne Trump Barry (April 5, 1937 – November 13, 2023) was an American attorney and United States federal judge. She became an assistant United States attorney in 1974 and was first appointed to the United States District Court for the Dist ...
(Barry, the eldest sister of
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
, later became a federal judge). While an Assistant U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, he prosecuted many cases involving
drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, ...
and
organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...
. From 1981 to 1985, Alito was Assistant to U.S. Solicitor General
Rex E. Lee Rex Edwin Lee (February 27, 1935 – March 11, 1996) was an American lawyer and academic who served as the 37th solicitor general of the United States from 1981 to 1985. He was responsible for bringing the solicitor general's office to the center ...
. In that capacity he argued 12 cases before the Supreme Court for the federal government. In '' Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists'' (1986), the Supreme Court ruled against
Charles Fried Charles Anthony Fried (born Karel Fried; April 15, 1935 – January 23, 2024) was an American jurist and lawyer. He served as Solicitor General of the United States under President Ronald Reagan from 1985 to 1989. He was a professor at Harvard L ...
after he rejected a memo by Alito urging the Solicitor General to avoid directly attacking the constitutional right to an abortion. Alito lost only two of the cases he argued before the Supreme Court. From 1985 to 1987, Alito was
Deputy Assistant Attorney General The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equiv ...
under Charles J. Cooper in the
Office of Legal Counsel The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that supports the attorney general in their role as legal adviser to the president and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the atto ...
during the tenure of Attorney General
Edwin Meese Edwin Meese III (born December 2, 1931) is an American attorney, law professor, author and member of the Republican Party who served in Ronald Reagan's gubernatorial administration (1967–1974), the Reagan presidential transition team (1980â ...
. John F. Manning worked under Alito there. Between 1986 and 1987, Alito authored nearly 470 pages of memoranda, in which he argued for expanding his client's law enforcement and personnel authorities. In his 1985 application for Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Alito espoused
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
views, naming
William F. Buckley, Jr. William Frank Buckley Jr. (born William Francis Buckley; November 24, 1925 – February 27, 2008) was an American conservative writer, public intellectual, political commentator and novelist. Born in New York City, Buckley spoke Spanish as his ...
, the ''
National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief is Rich L ...
'',
Alexander Bickel Alexander Mordecai Bickel (December 17, 1924 – November 7, 1974) was an American legal scholar and expert on the United States Constitution. One of the most influential constitutional commentators of the twentieth century, his writings emphasize ...
, and
Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Re ...
's 1964 presidential campaign as major influences. He also expressed concern about
Warren Court The Warren Court was the period in the history of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1953 to 1969 when Earl Warren served as the chief justice. The Warren Court is often considered the most liberal court in U.S. history. The Warren Cou ...
decisions in the areas of criminal procedure, the
Establishment Clause In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The ''Establishment Clause'' an ...
, and
reapportionment Apportionment is the process by which seats in a legislative body are distributed among administrative divisions, such as states or parties, entitled to representation. This page presents the general principles and issues related to apportionment ...
. From 1987 to 1990, Alito was the
United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey The U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey is the chief federal law enforcement officer in New Jersey. Since March 24, 2025, Alina Habba has served as acting U.S. attorney. The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey has jurisd ...
. When he arrived, the office had begun the prosecution of 20 defendants accused of being mob affiliates of
Anthony Accetturo Anthony "Tumac" Accetturo (born February 14, 1938) is an American former mobster who was ''caporegime'' of the New Jersey faction of the Lucchese crime family, popularly called "The Jersey Crew." Accetturo was demoted as leader of the Jersey Crew ...
. In August 1988, the two-year trial, then the longest federal criminal trial in history, ended in the acquittal of all 20 after less than two days of jury deliberations. Alito soon hired
Michael Chertoff Michael Chertoff (born November 28, 1953) is an American attorney who was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security to serve under President George W. Bush. Chertoff also served for one additional day under President Barack Obama. ...
as his chief deputy. After an FBI agent was shot in the line of duty in 1988, Alito personally handled the trial, assigning himself the then-novice
Stuart Rabner Stuart Jeff Rabner (born June 30, 1960) is the chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. He served as New Jersey Attorney General, chief counsel to Governor Jon Corzine, and as a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Dis ...
as an assistant, and securing the shooter's conviction. In March 1988, Alito sought a rehearing of extradition proceedings against two Indian men, represented by
Ron Kuby Ronald L. Kuby (born July 31, 1956) is an American criminal defense and civil rights lawyer, radio talk show host, and television commentator. He has hosted radio programs on WABC (AM) in New York City and Air America radio. Kuby has defended ...
, who were accused of being terrorist assassins, after Alito discovered that the death threats his prosecutor, Judy G. Russell, had received had been sent to her by herself. The prosecutor was later found not guilty of
obstruction of justice In United States jurisdictions, obstruction of justice refers to a number of offenses that involve unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investiga ...
by reason of
insanity Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors caused by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to other ...
, after psychiatrists found she may have suffered from
schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...
, with up to four distinct personalities. In 1989, Alito prosecuted a member of the
Japanese Red Army The was a militant communist organization active from 1971 to 2001. It was designated a terrorist organization by Japan and the United States. The JRA was founded by Fusako Shigenobu and Tsuyoshi Okudaira in February 1971, and was most acti ...
for planning a terrorist bombing in Manhattan. Alito is a member of the
Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (FedSoc) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative and Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian legal organization that advocates for a Textualism, textualist an ...
, a group of conservative and
libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...
lawyers and legal students interested in conservative legal theory.


Court of Appeals judge


Nomination and confirmation

Third Circuit Judges Leonard I. Garth, for whom Alito clerked, and
Maryanne Trump Barry Maryanne Trump Barry (April 5, 1937 – November 13, 2023) was an American attorney and United States federal judge. She became an assistant United States attorney in 1974 and was first appointed to the United States District Court for the Dist ...
, under whom Alito worked as an assistant U.S. Attorney, recommended Alito's judicial nomination to President
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...
. On February 20, 1990, Bush nominated Alito to the
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a United States federal court, federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, district courts for the following United Sta ...
, to a seat vacated by
John Joseph Gibbons John Joseph Gibbons (December 8, 1924 – December 9, 2018) was an American jurist who served as an appellate judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1969 to 1990, during which period he was its chief judge. After s ...
. The
American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...
rated Alito "Well Qualified" at the time of his nomination. He was confirmed by
unanimous consent In parliamentary procedure, unanimous consent, also known as general consent, or in the case of the parliaments under the Westminster system, leave of the house (or leave of the senate), is a situation in which no member present objects to a propo ...
in the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
on April 27, 1990, and received his commission three days later. As a Third Circuit judge, his chambers were in
Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...
.


Notable opinions

;Abortion * On a Third Circuit panel, the majority in ''
Planned Parenthood v. Casey ''Planned Parenthood v. Casey'', 505 U.S. 833 (1992), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court upheld the right to have an abortion as established by the "essential holding" of '' Roe v. Wade'' (1973) ...
'' overturned one part of a law regulating abortion, the provision mandating that married women first inform their husbands if they sought an abortion. Alito, the third judge on the panel, disagreed, arguing that he would have upheld the spousal notification requirement along with the rest of the law. ;Federalism * A dissenting opinion in '' United States v. Rybar'', 103 F.3d 273 (3d Cir. 1996), arguing that a U.S. law banning private citizens from owning
submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine (firearms), magazine-fed automatic firearm, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to descri ...
s was similar to one struck down by the Supreme Court in ''
United States v. Lopez ''United States v. Alfonso D. Lopez, Jr.'', 514 U.S. 549 (1995), also known as ''US v. Lopez'', was a landmark case of the United States Supreme Court that struck down the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 (GFSZA) as it was outside of Congres ...
'' and thus outside the authority of Congress under the
Commerce Clause The Commerce Clause describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution ( Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and amon ...
of the
U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constituti ...
. * A majority opinion in '' Chittister v. Department of Community & Economic Development'', 226 F.3d 223 (3d Cir. 2000). This case concerned an employee's claim of wrongful termination under the
Family and Medical Leave Act The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) is a United States labor law requiring covered employers to provide employees with job-protected, unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons. The FMLA was a major part of President Bill ...
against the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
. States are free to maintain
sovereign immunity Sovereign immunity, or crown immunity, is a legal doctrine whereby a monarch, sovereign or State (polity), state cannot commit a legal wrong and is immune from lawsuit, civil suit or criminal law, criminal prosecution, strictly speaking in mode ...
under the
U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constituti ...
. Since Pennsylvania had maintained its immunity to such suits, Alito affirmed the lower court's dismissal of the employee's claims. ;First Amendment * A majority opinion in '' Saxe v. State College Area School District'', 240 F.3d 200 (3d Cir. 2001), holding that a public school district's anti-harassment policy was unconstitutionally overbroad and therefore violated
First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
guarantees of
free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognise ...
. * A majority opinion in '' ACLU v. Schundler'', 168 F.3d 92 (3d Cir. 1999), holding that a government-sponsored holiday display consisting solely of religious symbols was impermissible, but that a mixed display including both secular and religious symbols was permissible if balanced in a generally secular context. * A dissenting opinion in '' C. H. v. Oliva'' (3d Cir. 2000), arguing that the removal and subsequent replacement in "a less conspicuous spot" of a kindergartener's religious themed poster was, at least potentially, a violation of his right to free expression. ;Fourth and Eighth Amendments *A dissenting opinion in '' Doe v. Groody'', arguing that
qualified immunity In the United States, qualified immunity is a legal principle of federal law that grants government officials performing discretionary (optional) functions immunity from lawsuits for damages unless the plaintiff shows that the official violated "c ...
should have protected police officers from a finding of having violated constitutional rights when they
strip-search A strip search is a practice of search of persons, searching a person for weapons or other contraband suspected of being hidden on their body or inside their clothing, and not found by performing a frisking, frisk search, but by requiring the p ...
ed a mother and her ten-year-old daughter while carrying out a
search warrant A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize Police, law enforcement officers to conduct a Search and seizure, search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to Confiscation, confiscate an ...
that authorized the search of a residence. *A unanimous opinion in ''Chadwick v. Janecka'' (3d Cir. 2002), holding that there was "no federal constitutional bar" to the "indefinite confinement" of a man imprisoned for
civil contempt Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the co ...
because he would not pay his $2.5 million debt to his wife. ;Civil rights *A unanimous opinion in '' Williams v. Price'', 343 F.3d 223 (3d Cir. 2003), granting a writ of
habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...
to a black state prisoner after state courts had refused to consider the testimony of a witness who stated that a juror had uttered derogatory remarks about black people during an encounter in the courthouse after the conclusion of the trial. * A dissenting opinion in ''Glass v. Philadelphia Electric Company'', 34 F.3d 188 (3rd Cir. 1994), arguing that a lower court did not abuse its discretion in excluding certain evidence of past conduct that defendant had created a hostile and racist work environment. * A majority opinion in ''Robinson v. City of Pittsburgh'', 120 F.3d 1286 (3rd Cir. 1997), rejecting a female police officer's
Equal Protection The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "nor shall any State... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal pr ...
-based sexual harassment and retaliation claims against the city and certain police officials and rejecting her
Title VII The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requi ...
-based retaliation claim against the city, but allowing her Title VII-based
sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...
claim against the city.


U.S. Supreme Court


Nomination and confirmation

On July 1, 2005,
Associate Justice An associate justice or associate judge (or simply associate) is a judicial panel member who is not the chief justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the Supreme Court of the United States and some ...
Sandra Day O'Connor Sandra Day O'Connor (March 26, 1930 – December 1, 2023) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, O' ...
announced her retirement from the
Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
effective upon the confirmation of a successor. President George W. Bush first nominated
John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...
to the vacancy, but when Chief Justice
William Rehnquist William Hubbs Rehnquist (October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American attorney who served as the 16th chief justice of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2005, having previously been an associate justice from 1972 to 1986. ...
died on September 3, Bush withdrew Roberts's nomination to fill O'Connor's seat and instead nominated Roberts to the Chief Justiceship. On October 3, Bush nominated
Harriet Miers Harriet Ellan Miers (born August 10, 1945) is an American lawyer who served as White House counsel to President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2007. A member of the Republican Party since 1988, she previously served as White House staff secretary ...
to replace O'Connor. Miers withdrew her acceptance of the nomination on October 27 after encountering widespread opposition. On October 31, Bush announced that he was nominating Alito to O'Connor's seat, and he submitted the nomination to the Senate on November 10. Alito was unanimously rated "well qualified" to fill the Associate Justice post by the
American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...
's Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary, which measures the professional qualifications of a nominee. The committee rates judges as "not qualified", "qualified", or "well qualified".
Leonard Leo Leonard Anthony Leo (born November 1965) is an American lawyer, businessman, and conservative legal activist. He was the longtime vice president of the Federalist Society and is currently, along with Steven Calabresi, the co-chairman of the or ...
was selected to play a role in shepherding Alito's appointment through the Senate. Alito's confirmation hearing was held from January 9 to 13, 2006. Two active-duty members of the Third Circuit, Judge
Maryanne Trump Barry Maryanne Trump Barry (April 5, 1937 – November 13, 2023) was an American attorney and United States federal judge. She became an assistant United States attorney in 1974 and was first appointed to the United States District Court for the Dist ...
and Chief Judge Anthony J. Scirica, testified in Alito's confirmation hearing, as did five senior and retired circuit judges. Alito responded to some 700 questions over 18 hours of testimony. He rejected the use of foreign legal materials in the Constitution, did not state a position on cameras in courtrooms (he had supported them while on the 3rd Circuit), said Congress could choose to outlaw
LGBT employment discrimination in the United States LGBT employment discrimination in the United States is illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is encompassed by the law's prohibition of employment di ...
if it wished, and told then-Senator
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
(D-DE) that he endorsed a weak version of the
unitary executive theory In American law, the unitary executive theory is a constitutional law theory according to which the president of the United States has sole authority over the executive branch. The theory often comes up in jurisprudential disagreements about t ...
. On January 24, his nomination was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 10–8 party line vote. Democratic Senators characterized Alito as a hard-right conservative in the mold of
Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served since 1991 as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. President George H. W. Bush nominated him to succeed Thurgood Marshall. Afte ...
or
Robert Bork Robert Heron Bork (March 1, 1927 – December 19, 2012) was an American legal scholar who served as solicitor general of the United States from 1973 until 1977. A professor by training, he was acting United States Attorney General and a judge on ...
. Alito professed reluctance to commit to any type of ideology, stating he would act as an impartial referee. He said he would look at abortion with an open mind but would not state how he would rule on ''
Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right to have an ...
'' if that decision were to be challenged. Democrats on the committee asked Alito about his past association with the conservative group Concerned Alumni of Princeton. Alito said that he had listed an affiliation with the group on his application to
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
's Justice Department in order to establish his conservative credentials: "You have to look at the question that I was responding to and the form that I was filling out... I was applying for a position in the Reagan administration. And my answers were truthful statements, but what I was trying to outline were the things that were relevant to obtaining a political position." But during the confirmation hearings, he disavowed the group, whose views were criticized as racist and sexist, saying: "I disavow them. I deplore them. They represent things that I have always stood against and I can't express too strongly." The
American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...
(ACLU) formally opposed Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court. The ACLU has only taken this step three other times in its entire history, opposing the nominations of
William Rehnquist William Hubbs Rehnquist (October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American attorney who served as the 16th chief justice of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2005, having previously been an associate justice from 1972 to 1986. ...
,
Robert Bork Robert Heron Bork (March 1, 1927 – December 19, 2012) was an American legal scholar who served as solicitor general of the United States from 1973 until 1977. A professor by training, he was acting United States Attorney General and a judge on ...
, and
Brett Kavanaugh Brett Michael Kavanaugh (; born February 12, 1965) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on July 9, 2018, and has served since Oct ...
. In releasing its report on Alito, ACLU Executive Director
Anthony Romero Anthony D. Romero (born July 9, 1965) is an American lawyer who serves as the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. He assumed the position in 2001 as the first Latino and openly gay man to do so. Early life and education R ...
said, "At a time when our president has claimed unprecedented authority to spy on Americans and jail terrorism suspects indefinitely, America needs a Supreme Court justice who will uphold our precious
civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...
. Alito's record shows a willingness to support government actions that abridge individual freedoms." Debate on the nomination began in the full Senate on January 25. After a failed
filibuster A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent a decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking ...
attempt by Senator
John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...
, the Senate confirmed Alito to the Supreme Court on January 31 by a vote of 58–42. All Senate Republicans voted in favor of confirmation except
Lincoln Chafee Lincoln Davenport Chafee ( ; born March 26, 1953) is an American politician. He was mayor of Warwick, Rhode Island, from 1993 to 1999, a United States Senator from 1999 to 2007, and the 74th Governor of Rhode Island from 2011 to 2015. He was a ...
, and all Senate Democrats voted against confirmation except Tim Johnson,
Robert Byrd Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A Democratic Pa ...
,
Kent Conrad Gaylord Kent Conrad (born March 12, 1948) is a former American politician who was a United States Senator from North Dakota. He is a member of the Democratic Party. First elected to the Senate in 1986, he served as chairman or Ranking Member of ...
, and
Ben Nelson Earl Benjamin Nelson (born May 17, 1941) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 37th governor of Nebraska from 1991 to 1999 and as a United States Senator from Nebraska from 2001 to 2013. He is a member of the D ...
. An Independent,
Jim Jeffords James Merrill "Jim" Jeffords (May 11, 1934 â€“ August 18, 2014) was an American lawyer and politician from Vermont who served as a member of the Vermont Senate from 1967 to 1969, Attorney General of Vermont from 1969 to 1973, and later serve ...
, voted against confirmation. Alito was sworn in as an associate justice of the Supreme Court later that day. He became the 110th justice, the second Italian-American, the 11th Catholic in the history of the Supreme Court, the fifth Catholic on the Court at the time he assumed office, and one of six on the Court as of 2024. ''Note'': Justice
Sherman Minton Sherman "Shay" Minton (October 20, 1890 – April 9, 1965) was an American politician and jurist who served as a U.S. senator from Indiana and later became an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; he was a member of the ...
converted to Catholicism after he retired.
Because Alito joined the Court mid-term, he did not participate in the decisions of most of the early cases in the Court term because he had not heard arguments for them. These decisions were released with an 8-member Court; none were 4–4, so Alito would not have been the deciding vote in any of them if he had participated. Only three of these cases – ''
Garcetti v. Ceballos ''Garcetti v. Ceballos'', 547 U.S. 410 (2006), is a U.S. Supreme Court decision involving First Amendment free speech protections for government employees. The plaintiff in the case was a district attorney who claimed that he had been passed up fo ...
'', '' Hudson v. Michigan'', and ''
Kansas v. Marsh ''Kansas v. Marsh'', 548 U.S. 163 (2006), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a Kansas death penalty statute was consistent with the United States Constitution. The statute in question provided for a death sentence w ...
'' – were reargued since a tie needed to be broken.


Tenure

Alito delivered his first written Supreme Court opinion on May 1, 2006, in '' Holmes v. South Carolina'', a case involving the right of criminal defendants to present evidence that a third party committed the crime. From the beginning of the
Rehnquist Court The Rehnquist Court was the period in the history of the Supreme Court of the United States during which William Rehnquist served as Chief Justice. Rehnquist succeeded Warren E. Burger as Chief Justice after the latter's retirement, and Rehnquis ...
to the nomination of Justice
Elena Kagan Elena Kagan ( ; born April 28, 1960) is an American lawyer who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was Elena Kagan Supreme Court nomination ...
, each new justice has been given a unanimous opinion to write as their first Supreme Court opinion; this practice is designed to help "break in" new justices so that each justice has at least one unanimous, uncontroversial opinion under their belt. Alito wrote for a unanimous court in ordering a new trial for Bobby Lee Holmes due to South Carolina's rule that barred such evidence based on the strength of the prosecution's case, rather than on the relevance and strength of the defense evidence itself. His other majority opinions in his first term were in '' Zedner v. United States'', '' Woodford v. Ngo'', and '' Arlington Central School District Board of Education v. Murphy''. In his first term, Alito compiled a fairly conservative record. For example, in the three reargued cases (''Garcetti v. Ceballos'', ''Hudson v. Michigan'' and ''Kansas v. Marsh''), Alito created a 5–4 majority by voting with the four other conservative Justices â€“ Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Justices
Antonin Scalia Antonin Gregory Scalia (March 11, 1936 â€“ February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectual an ...
,
Anthony Kennedy Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American attorney and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by Pres ...
, and
Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served since 1991 as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. President George H. W. Bush nominated him to succeed Thurgood Marshall. Afte ...
. He further voted with the conservative wing of the court on '' Sanchez-Llamas v. Oregon'' and ''
Rapanos v. United States ''Rapanos v. United States'', 547 U.S. 715 (2006), was a United States Supreme Court case challenging federal jurisdiction to regulate isolated wetlands under the Clean Water Act. It was the first major environmental case heard by the newly appoin ...
''. Alito also dissented in ''
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld ''Hamdan v. Rumsfeld'', 548 U.S. 557 (2006), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay violated both the Uniform Code of Milit ...
'' alongside Justices Scalia and Thomas. Alito delivered the Supreme Court Historical Society's 2008 Annual Lecture, "The Origin of the Baseball Antitrust Exemption". The lecture was published in two journals. In 2023,
Martin–Quinn score Martin–Quinn scores or M-Q scores are dynamic metrics used to gauge the ideology of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice based on their voting record. Therefore, a jurist's score will continuously change, unlike static measures of ideology such as the S ...
s suggested that Alito was the most conservative Supreme Court justice. While his voting record is conservative, he does not always join the opinions of the Court's other conservative justices. On February 1, 2006, in Alito's first decision on the Supreme Court, he voted with the majority (6–3) to refuse Missouri's request to vacate the
stay of execution A stay of execution ( Law Latin: ''cesset executio'', "let execution cease") is a court order to temporarily suspend the execution of a court judgment or other court order. The word "execution" refers to the imposition of whatever judgment is bei ...
issued by the Eighth Circuit for death-row inmate Michael Taylor. Justices Roberts, Scalia and Thomas were in favor of vacating the stay; Missouri had twice asked the justices to lift the stay and permit the execution. Moreover, despite having been at one time nicknamed "Scalito", Alito's views have differed from those of Scalia (and Thomas), as in the Michael Taylor case and various other cases of the 2005 term. A fierce critic of reliance on legislative history in statutory interpretation, Scalia was the only member of the Court in '' Zedner v. United States'' not to join a section of Alito's opinion that discussed the legislative history of the statute in question. In two higher-profile cases, one involving the constitutionality of political gerrymandering and one involving campaign finance reform ('' LULAC v. Perry'' and '' Randall v. Sorrell''), Alito adopted narrow positions, declining to join the bolder positions advanced by either philosophical side of the Court. According to a
SCOTUSblog ''SCOTUSblog'' is a law blog written by lawyers, legal scholars, and law students about the Supreme Court of the United States (sometimes abbreviation, abbreviated "SCOTUS"). Formerly sponsored by Bloomberg Law and now owned by ''The Dispatch'' ...
analysis of 2005 term decisions, Alito and Scalia concurred in the result of 86% of decisions in which both participated, and concurred in full in 75%. Alito also differed from Scalia in applying originalism flexibly to arrive at conservative outcomes "with plodding consistency", rather than following it so strictly as to occasionally produce outcomes unfavorable to conservatives. Alito's majority opinion in the 2008 worker protection case '' Gomez-Perez v. Potter'' cleared the way for federal workers who experience retaliation after filing age discrimination complaints to sue for damages. He sided with the liberal bloc of the court, inferring protection against retaliation in the federal-sector provision of the
Age Discrimination in Employment Act The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA; to ) is a United States labor law that forbids employment discrimination against anyone, at least 40 years of age, in the United States (see ). In 1967, the bill was signed into law by Pr ...
despite the lack of an explicit provision concerning retaliation. Alito joined Thomas in writing a separate dissent in ''
Obergefell v. Hodges ''Obergefell v. Hodges'', ( ), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court which ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of th ...
''. In 2020, Alito wrote a dissent joined by Thomas to ''
Bostock v. Clayton County ''Bostock v. Clayton County'', , is a landmark United States Supreme Court civil rights decision in which the Court held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation ...
'', arguing that Title VII of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
does not prohibit discrimination by
sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...
or
gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...
and criticizing the majority's interpretation of Title VII. In October 2020, Alito agreed with the other justices on the denial of an appeal filed by Kim Davis, a county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. On November 12, 2020, Alito made headlines for comments about the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. Speaking to the
Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (FedSoc) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative and Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian legal organization that advocates for a Textualism, textualist an ...
, Alito criticized what he called the "loss of individual liberties", saying, "We have never before seen restrictions as severe, extensive and prolonged as those experienced for most of 2020" and calling the pandemic "a Constitutional stress test". Alito has called himself a "practical
originalist Originalism is a legal theory in the United States which bases constitutional, judicial, and statutory interpretation of text on the original understanding at the time of its adoption. Proponents of the theory object to judicial activism a ...
" and is a member of the Court's conservative bloc. He has been described as one of the Court's "most conservative justices". According to ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'', since the 2020 appointment of Justice
Amy Coney Barrett Amy Vivian Coney Barrett (born January 28, 1972) is an American lawyer and jurist serving since 2020 as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The fifth wom ...
, Alito has become "the embodiment of a conservative majority that is ambitious and extreme", overruling progressive precedents from the 1960s and '70s that were previously out of conservatives' reach. Alito drew controversy in June 2024 when a filmmaker who had been posing as a conservative posted a secret recording in which he could be heard agreeing with her assertion that Christians should win "the moral argument" against the Left and return the country to "a place of godliness". When asked about
political polarization in the United States Political polarization is a prominent component of politics in the United States. Scholars distinguish between ideological polarization (differences between the policy positions) and affective polarization (a dislike and distrust of political o ...
, he responded, "one side or the other is going to win".


Abortion jurisprudence

In 2003, Congress passed the
Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 (, ,
''(HTML)''; *
, which led to a lawsuit in the case of ''
Gonzales v. Carhart ''Gonzales v. Carhart'', 550 U.S. 124 (2007), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The case reached the high court after ...
''. The Court had previously ruled in '' Stenberg v. Carhart'' that a state's ban on
partial birth abortion Intact dilation and extraction (D&X, IDX, or intact D&E) is a surgical procedure that terminates and removes an intact fetus from the uterus. The procedure is used both after miscarriages and for abortions in the second and third trimesters of ...
was unconstitutional because such a ban did not have an exception in the case of a threat to the health of the mother. The membership of the Court changed after ''Stenberg'', with Roberts and Alito replacing Rehnquist (a dissenter in ''Roe'') and O'Connor (a supporter of ''Roe'') respectively. Further, the ban at issue in ''Gonzales v. Carhart'' was a federal statute, rather than a state statute as in the ''Stenberg'' case. On April 18, 2007, the Supreme Court handed down a decision ruling the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act constitutional. Kennedy wrote for the five-justice majority that Congress was within its power to generally ban the procedure, although the Court left open the door for as-applied challenges. Kennedy said that the challenged statute was consistent with the Court's prior decisions in ''
Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right to have an ...
'', ''
Planned Parenthood v. Casey ''Planned Parenthood v. Casey'', 505 U.S. 833 (1992), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court upheld the right to have an abortion as established by the "essential holding" of '' Roe v. Wade'' (1973) ...
'', and ''Stenberg v. Carhart''. Alito joined fully in the majority, as did Roberts. Thomas filed a concurring opinion, joined by Scalia, contending that the Court's prior decisions in ''Roe v. Wade'' and ''Planned Parenthood v. Casey'' should be reversed, and also noting that the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act may exceed the powers of Congress under the Commerce Clause. Alito, Roberts, and Kennedy did not join that assertion. Justices
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; Bader; March 15, 1933 – September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until Death and state funeral of Ruth Bader ...
,
David Souter David Hackett Souter ( ; September 17, 1939 – May 8, 2025) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1990 until his retirement in 2009. Appointed by President George H ...
, Stephen Breyer, and John Paul Stevens dissented, contending that the ruling ignored Supreme Court abortion precedent. On May 2, 2022, ''Politico'' published a Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization#Leaked draft opinion, leak of a first draft of a majority opinion by Alito that circulated among the justices in February 2022 for the upcoming decision in ''
Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ''Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'', 597 U.S. 215 (2022), is a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court in which the court held ...
''. The opinion would overturn ''
Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right to have an ...
'' and ''
Planned Parenthood v. Casey ''Planned Parenthood v. Casey'', 505 U.S. 833 (1992), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court upheld the right to have an abortion as established by the "essential holding" of '' Roe v. Wade'' (1973) ...
'', and would likely either severely restrict access to abortion or make it completely illegal in states with trigger laws. On June 24, 2022, the ruling was handed down. It was mostly identical to the leaked draft, with the addition of replies to the dissenting and concurring opinions. Alito wrote that "''Roe'' was egregiously wrong from the start", that its reasoning was "exceptionally weak" and that, "far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue", it had "enflamed debate and deepened division". In July 2022, Alito gave his first public comments on the ruling in a keynote address for Notre Dame Law School's Religious Liberty Initiative in Rome. He mocked several foreign leaders for criticizing the decision, particularly U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, referencing his pending resignation, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, who had compared the ruling to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. During an October 2022 talk at The Heritage Foundation, Alito said that the leaked opinion made some justices "targets for assassination", referring to the Brett Kavanaugh alleged assassination plot, assassination attempt on fellow Justice Brett Kavanaugh during that year. At the same event, he said that "questioning [the Court's] integrity crosses an important line", which many media commentators interpreted as criticism of Kagan's recent statements on the court's overturning of precedent during the past term. In November 2022, as the investigation into who had leaked the draft opinion was still ongoing, it was revealed that Rob Schenck, an evangelical minister and former anti-abortion activist, had written Roberts a letter about an alleged previous leak of a Supreme Court decision. He wrote that he had been informed of the outcome of ''
Burwell v. Hobby Lobby ''Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.'', 573 U.S. 682 (2014), is a landmark decision in United States corporate law by the United States Supreme Court allowing privately held for-profit corporations to be exempt from a regulation that its owners ...
'' weeks before the June 2014 decision, authored by Alito and favorable to anti-abortion conservatives, was officially announced. Schenck claimed to have heard of the outcome from Gayle Wright, a conservative donor, shortly after she and her husband had lunch with Alito and his wife on June 3, 2014. ''The New York Times'' claims contemporaneous emails written by Schenck "strongly suggested he knew the outcome and the author of the Hobby Lobby decision before it was made public." In a statement, Alito denied having revealed the outcome or authorship of any decision before its official announcement, but did not dispute that the June 3 lunch with Wright had occurred. On April 21, 2023, Alito dissented when the Supreme Court reversed a ruling by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk that would have banned mifepristone (an emergency contraception medication) nationwide.


Free speech jurisprudence

Alito has also dissented from the opinions of the Court's conservative justices on free speech cases, one of which, ''Snyder v. Phelps'', had to do with Westboro Baptist Church members' right to protest a military funeral. Alito offered the sole dissenting opinion, saying protesters "were sued under a very well-established tort that goes back to the 19th century, the intentional infliction of emotional, of severe emotional distress. And I thought that this tort constituted a reasonable exception to the First Amendment, but my colleagues disagreed about that." In the 2007 landmark free speech case ''Morse v. Frederick'', Alito joined Roberts's majority decision that speech advocating drug use can be banned in public schools, but also warned that the ruling must be circumscribed so as not to interfere with political speech, such as discussion of the medical marijuana debate.


Personal life

In 1985, Alito married Martha-Ann Bomgardner, a law librarian who met him during his trips to the library as a law clerk. They have two adult children, Laura and Philip; Martha-Ann left her profession to raise them. Alito resided with his family in West Caldwell, New Jersey, before his Supreme Court nomination. He has since moved to Alexandria, Virginia. Since Stephen Breyer's retirement in 2022, Alito has been the only Veteran, military veteran on the Court. He is a baseball fan and a longtime fan of the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillie Phanatic was a special guest at his Supreme Court welcome dinner. In 2013, as part of the ongoing fallout from the Edward Snowden case, former National Security Agency analyst Russell Tice revealed that, during 2002 and 2003, the National Security Agency targeted Alito's phones, and those of his staff and his family, for surveillance.


Teaching

As an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark from 1999 to 2004, Alito taught courses in constitutional law and an original course on terrorism and
civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...
. In 1995, he received the school's Thomas More, Saint Thomas More Medal "in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of law". On May 25, 2007, he delivered the commencement address at Seton Hall Law's commencement ceremony and received an honorary law degree from the school. As a visiting professor at Duke University School of Law, Alito taught Current Issues in Constitutional Interpretation in fall 2011 and a course in the Master of Laws in Judicial Studies program in summer 2012.


Ethical questions


Accusations of accepting gifts

On June 20, 2023, ''ProPublica'' published an investigation of Alito's relationship with billionaire businessman Paul Singer (businessman), Paul Singer, focusing on a trip Alito and Singer took to a luxury fishing resort in Alaska and suggesting Alito "violated a federal law that requires justices to disclose most gifts", such as private jet travel. The article said he should have recused himself in cases involving Singer and that he was obligated to disclose certain benefits as gifts on his 2008 Financial Disclosure Report. Legal ethics experts quoted in ''ProPublica'' called Alito's behavior "unacceptable". Shortly before publication of the ''ProPublica'' article, Alito published an op-ed in ''The Wall Street Journal'' challenging the article's assertions and claiming that the source "misleads its readers". His preemptory challenge maintained that ''ProPublica'''s charges were invalid. Alito further contended that because of an exemption in the Court's reporting rules for "personal hospitality", he was not required to disclose private air transport for social trips. His unconventional decision to bypass reporters' questions and preempt the story via a separate publication took ''ProPublica'''s reporters by surprise. The decision to publish the op-ed was criticized both within the ''Wall Street Journal'' and by media critics, in part because it lacked fact-checking. The ''ProPublica'' report on unreported gifts to both Alito and Thomas led several members of Congress to call for ethics reform for the Supreme Court. This included a Senate Judiciary Committee proposal to establish a code of ethics for the Court. In a July 2023 ''The Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Journal'' opinion column, Alito wrote, "Congress did not create the Supreme Court [...] I know this is a controversial view, but I'm willing to say it. No provision in the Constitution gives them the authority to regulate the Supreme Court—period." This declaration led to further debate among lawmakers. Senator Chris Murphy said the Constitution gives Congress power to oversee the Court: "It is just wrong on the facts to say that Congress doesn't have anything to do with the rules guiding the Supreme Court. In fact, from the very beginning, Congress has set those rules."


Flag display controversy

On January 17, 2021, an upside-down flag of the United States, American flag was flown outside Alito's residence in Alexandria, Virginia. The upside-down flag, traditionally a signal of distress, was displayed by supporters of former president
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
during the January 6 United States Capitol attack, January 6 Capitol attack and by members of the Stop the Steal movement, an Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. In the summer of 2023, the Pine Tree Flag was flown at Alito's beach house on Long Beach Island in New Jersey. It was one of the flags used during the American Revolution, and has been used by Christian nationalism, Christian nationalists; it was also carried during the Capitol attack. The flag displays, reported by ''The New York Times'', caused controversy, including questions about judicial impartiality. During the flag's presence, the Supreme Court was considering the appeal in ''Fischer v. United States (2024), United States v. Fischer'' (2023), a case involving the January 6 Capitol attack. A secret recording by Advocacy journalism, advocacy journalist Lauren Windsor captured Martha-Ann Alito discussing the event in June 2024. Martha-Ann Alito said, "I want a Sacred Heart, Sacred Heart of Jesus flag because I have to look across the lagoon at the Pride flag for the next month", adding that she would be "changing the flags" when her husband was "free of this nonsense" and that she would come with her own flag, which would be white with yellow and orange flames and read "vergogna" ("shame" in Italian). She also told Windsor that she would "get" "the media", adding: "Look at me. Look at me. I'm German, from Germany. My heritage is German. You come after me, I'm going to give it back to you". Reactions were mixed, with most Democrats condemning Alito and most Republicans defending him. United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Senate Committee on the Judiciary chairman Dick Durbin requested Alito's recusal from cases involving the January 6 Capitol attack or the 2020 United States presidential election, 2020 presidential election. United States House Committee on the Judiciary, House Committee on the Judiciary member Steve Cohen (politician), Steve Cohen introduced a resolution to censure Alito. Forty-five representatives, joined by ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee Hank Johnson, signed a letter requesting Alito's recusal. Senator Tom Cotton called the controversy an intimidation attempt, while Senator Lindsey Graham said hoisting the upside-down flag was "not good judgment". Alito responded that he had no involvement in hoisting either flag, saying: "I was not even aware of the upside-down flag until it was called to my attention" and "My wife is fond of flying flags. I am not". In an interview with Fox News, he reiterated that the flag was flown in response to a dispute with a neighbor, clarifying that his wife was upset about a "Fuck Trump" sign. He told Fox News host Shannon Bream that the neighbor blamed him for the January 6 United States Capitol attack, January 6 Capitol attack and called his wife a "cunt". Senior U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor of Massachusetts called Alito's flag-flying "improper" in an essay published in ''The New York Times''. Ponsor later apologized after Chief Judge Albert Diaz (judge), Albert Diaz of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit found that his remarks hurt public confidence in the courts by taking issue with Alito's ethics.


Bibliography

*''Foreword'', 1 SETON HALL CIR. REV. 1 (2005). *Panel Speaker at the Federalist Society's 2000 National Lawyers Convention: Presidential Oversight and the Administrative State, in 2 ENGAGE (Federalist Soc'y, Wash. D.C.) 11 (2001).
''The Role of the Lawyer in the Criminal Justice System''
2 FEDERALIST SOC'Y CRIM. L. NEWS (Federalist Soc'y, Wash., D.C.) 3 (1998) *''Change in Continuity at the Office of Legal Counsel'', 15 CARDOZO L. REV. 507 (1993). *''Reviewing the Sentencing Commission's 1991 Annual Report'', 5 FED. SENT. REP. 166 (1992). *''The First Amendment: Information, Publication and the Media'', 1 SETON HALL CONST. L.J. 327 (1991). *''What Role Should Individual Sentencing Judges Play in the Guideline Development Process?'', 1 FED SENT. REP. 372 (1989). *''Racketeering Made Simple(r)'', in THE RICO RACKET 1 (Gary L. McDowell ed. 1989). *''Introduction to After the Independent Counsel Decision: Is Separation of Powers Dead?'', 26 AM. CRIM. L. REV. 1667 (1989). *''Shift Won't Hamper Crime Fight'', DAILY J. (Vineland, N.J.), May 5, 1989. *''The Year Wasn't So Bad'', NAT'L. L.J., September 26, 1998, at 12. *''Documents and the Privilege Against Self-Incrimination'', 48 U. PITT. L. REV. 27 (1986). *''Equal Protection and Classification Based on Family Membership'', 80 DICK. L. REV. 410 (1976). *
''An Introduction to the Italian Constitutional Court''
(A.B. Thesis, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School Scholar Project, May 31, 1972).


Related documents


Legal Memo
written while working in the United States Solicitor General's office regarding the Fleeing felon rule. (May 18, 1984) (PDF)
'Personal Qualifications Statement'
when applying to be an Assistant Attorney General under Pres. Ronald Reagan. (November 15, 1985)
Legal Memo written as Deputy Asst. Attorney General to the OMB's General Counsel regarding OMB authority of FDIC funds.
(1986) (PDF)
House Committee on the Judiciary testimony regarding unpublished court opinions.
(1990) (PDF)
2003 Financial Disclosure2004 Financial DisclosureResponse to a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire
(November 30, 2005) (PDF),
Appendix1Appendix2Appendix3Appendix4

Letter from Justice Alito to Senators Durbin and Whitehouse
(2024)


See also

*Judicial restraint *List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States *List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 8) *List of United States Supreme Court justices by time in office *Unitary executive theory *List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Roberts Court, United States Supreme Court cases during the Roberts Court


Notes


References


Further reading

* * * * * * * * * * (official curriculum vitae).


External links

* * *
Appearances at the U.S. Supreme Court
from the Oyez Project
The Nomination of Samuel A. Alito
at the Law Library of Congress
Fox, John, ''Capitalism and Conflict, Biographies of the Robes, Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr.''
Public Broadcasting Service.
''Washington Post'' Profile

Daily Princetonian profile


at OnTheIssues
Profile
at SourceWatch
"The Record of Samuel Alito: A Preliminary Review"
People For the American Way. 2005.
Read Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding Alito

Alito
at Jurist.org
National Archives Alito links



Supreme Court Justice Nomination Hearings on Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr. in January 2006
United States Government Publishing Office , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Alito, Samuel 1950 births Living people 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century American judges 21st-century Roman Catholics 2021 controversies in the United States 2023 controversies in the United States American people of Italian descent Assistant United States attorneys Catholics from New Jersey Competitive debaters Duke University School of Law faculty Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic People from Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey People from Trenton, New Jersey People from West Caldwell, New Jersey People of Calabrian descent Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni Reagan administration personnel Seton Hall University School of Law faculty Steinert High School alumni United States Army officers United States attorneys for the District of New Jersey United States court of appeals judges appointed by George H. W. Bush United States federal judges appointed by George W. Bush Yale Law School alumni