Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion on the Dobbs decision which overturned Roe v. Wade. Alito was nominated to the Supreme Court in 2005, and he has served as an associate justice since January 2006. Both Alito and Clarence Thomas worshiped the late Justice Scalia. Before Scalia’s passing, Alito and Thomas were known for voting in lockstep with Scalia, and Alito’s nickname was “Scalito.” Since Scalia’s passing and the subsequent Republican takeover of SCOTUS, Alito has become more vocal. Since the Supreme Court is off right now (they get a lengthy summer break), Alito is free to make paid speeches and travel around, getting into Christofascist adventures. Alito was in Rome recently for some kind of Catholic conference, and he gave a speech which only leaked out on Thursday. In the speech, Alito mocked the foreign leaders who released statements of concern about reproductive rights following the Dobbs decision. Alito also mocked… Prince Harry.
Justice Samuel Alito, appearing for the first time in public since penning the opinion that reversed Roe v. Wade, mocked foreign criticism of the decision during a speech he delivered in Rome. Alito — sporting a new beard — gave the talk that was largely dedicated to protecting religious liberty last week, but it was only publicized on Thursday by Notre Dame Law School.
“Religious liberty is under attack in many places because it is dangerous to those who want to hold complete power,” Alito said. “It also probably grows out of something dark and deep in the human DNA — a tendency to distrust and dislike people who are not like ourselves,” he added. His speech comes a month after the end of a blockbuster term where the court’s majority not only ended a federal right to abortion, but also ruled in favor of religious conservatives in two cases.
Alito did not discuss the leak of the abortion decision the wrote — Dobbs v. Jackson — last May, and only indirectly referenced the final version that he referred to as an opinion “whose name may not be spoken.”
“I had the honor this term of writing I think the only Supreme Court decision in the history of that institution that has been lambasted by a whole string of foreign leaders,” Alito said, noting they felt “perfectly fine commenting on American law.”
He noted one of the critics was UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has announced his plan to resign in early July, days after the opinion was issued.
“He paid the price,” Alito said to laughter and applause. He also criticized French President Emmanuel Macron and Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, for their comments criticizing the opinion. Dripping with sarcasm, Alito told the audience that what really “wounded” him was when Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, “addressed the United Nations and seemed to compare ‘the decision whose name may not be spoken’ with the Russian attack on the Ukraine.”
How disgusting and deeply inappropriate. As many have noted, between Alito’s comments and Clarence Thomas’s recent speeches, I think we can all dispel the myth of the unbiased, apolitical jurist merely trying to interpret the law to the best of his ability. Alito, Thomas, Barrett, Kavanuagh and Gorsuch are right-wing political hacks in robes. The pompous conceit and astounding privilege of this too – to go to Rome and, dripping with sanctimony, mock world leaders who justifiably pointed out that the Dobbs decision was a huge blow for women’s rights and reproductive rights across the board.
In his Rome speech on religious liberty, Justice Alito mocked "foreign leaders" who condemned his opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, including Boris Johnson, Macron, Trudeau, and … Prince Harry.
Of Boris, Alito quipped: "He paid the price." https://t.co/NPqalw0KA6 pic.twitter.com/xC0qguZ31n
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) July 28, 2022
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar.
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- -Washington, District of Columbia – 20210423-Supreme Court of the United States 2021 Group Photo Members of the Supreme Court pose for a group photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on April 23, 2021. Seated from left: Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Justice Stephen G. Breyer, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch and Justice Amy Coney Barrett. -PICTURED: Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Justice Stephen G. Breyer, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch and Justice Amy Coney Barrett -PHOTO by: Erin Schaff/POOL/CNP/startraksphoto.com -042321_Supreme-Court-Pool_016 This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact Startraks Photo for licensing fee and rights information at sales@startraksphoto.com or call +1 212 414 9464 This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. Startraks Photo reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded
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- Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Samuel Alito and Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court Stephen Breyer on the Colonnade as they arrive for the Oath of Office ceremony for new Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court Neil Gorsuch in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC on Monday, April 10, 2017.,Image: 512294524, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS- Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Ron Sachs / Avalon
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- Associate Justice Samuel Alito Jr. poses for a group photograph at the Supreme Court building on June 1 2017 in Washington, DC.,Image: 513106015, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS- Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Douliery / Avalon
Who would have thought the axis of evil would actually be located in the U.S. Supreme Court?
+1
Ditto!!!
Brilliant comment. 5 stars.
This is exactly why we have to term limit the Supreme Court. Humans are just too, untrustworthy to hold power for years and years over the masses… eventually they want to become Monarchs, and Authoritarians. We fought the British to avoid this — America needs a wake-up call on the separation of Church and State, and why we need it.
This is why we have to term limit this Supreme Court
The HUBRIS & ARROGANCE are what really floor me here. He thinks he’s over the POTUS but also over other world figures. Wow. Just, wow. He’s way less than he thinks he is.
Right. He’s Scalito to me, now and forever.
Read the room (of foreign leaders).
Man, are we in trouble.
Conduct unbecoming a Justice of the Supreme Court. How are there no ways to penalize these people? And how are justices allowed to give paid speeches while still sitting on the bench? It’s such an unbelievable conflict of interest.
Yes!
Unfortunately, there is no written Code of Ehtics for the Supreme Court. Kind of ironic, eh?
My bet is the Scalito is the one who leaked the draft Dobb’s decision to ensure that Kavanuagh was not swayed by Roberts & that Roberts came to heel in agreement w/the decision
Remember how they wanted to prosecute whoever leaked? Now that it looks certainly leaked by the right wing, that urge to punish the leaker *somehow* magically disappeared.
A few weeks ago Alito and his wife were moved from their Northern VA home security reasons. If he’s such a big man why didn’t he have the courage to face his opponents?
You say “were moved” – I hope that doesn’t mean it was at federal or state government expense?
I had no idea until I read that that they’re allowed to give paid speeches and I’m fuming. That is so wrong.
There is a legal office staffed by an General Counsel and Staff counsel in the Supreme Court, and one of their many jobs is to advise justices when to recuse themselves etc. unfortunately they are often ignored.
He makes me want to rip my clothes and pour ashes in my hair.
british CBers, enlighten me please – did Boris’ resignation have anything to do with his comments on Dobbs?
No – it was all to do with how corrupt and useless he is.
No. The final straw was him knowingly appointing a man with multiple allegations of sexual assault in the workplace to a position where he would be the person people who’d experienced sexual assault or harassment would have to report it to. That was one bridge too far finally.
As people in the UK said it is amazing that someone else’s sex scandal brought him down
It had to do with “Pincher in name and Pincher in nature” as Johnson once described him.
What a reprehensible POS…… never thought I would ever say that about a justice of the US Supreme Court. Because we all know that religious freedom means the right to tell other people how to live and what they must do with their bodies (that’s sarcasm!).
Interesting though, by raising all this? It bothers him. It clearly does. The insecurity shines through. Oh Sammy, you ain’t seen nothing yet! You will be mocked for the rest of your existence and your legacy will be garbage.
These men think of themselves as heroes and then cry and pout when they are challenged or even mocked instead of praised. It’s practically right out of a comic book villain. Alito, Musk, Trump, Piers Morgan, Tucker Carlson etc. it’s all the same.
The message from Alito is loud and clear: you mocked us for years and now our revenge is coming. They are going to take back every right ever conferred by the court to make pay for rejecting their religious fanaticism.
Unless Democrats expand the court and establish ethics rules, states will begin rejecting its rulings and we will live in total chaos.
Agreed. I had to stop reading and am going to gtfo out of this post because these people make me too angry.
Alito also wrote the Hobby Lobby decision, a case involving women’s access, through job-based health insurance for which the women paid the full group based premium, to treatments for endometriosis and ovarian cysts. In his 81 page decision on access to women’s health care, Alito mentioned women’s health issues only once, in a footnote to RBG telling her to shush with all that yucky stuff about women’s healthcare.
This does not surprise me one iota. We live in scary times.
The sitting pope is more empathetic and progressive than this “right-wing polítical hack in robes.” Right now in America is like the beginning stage of the tv show the Handmaid’s tales. When the radical Evangelicals take over the country I won’t last long because they will hang me on the wall for being a gender traitor. And I guess many of you ladies will become handmaids or Marthas or Jezabels. What a horrible thought.
It’s all projection, all the time, with these people.
Look at Alito, channeling his inner puritan. I wonder what’s next on the agenda, mandatory bible study in elementary schools or branding irons to force religion on the community.
“…those who want to hold complete power,” Alito said. “It also probably grows out of something dark and deep in the human DNA — a tendency to distrust and dislike people who are not like ourselves,” How ironic that he is describing himself. PH, “the irrelevant”, is being mentioned with world leaders. How often does that happen for his dad and bro?
Alito is what happens when people become complacent, he knows his position in the court is for life.
Alito is the dirt under Prince Harry’s pinky finger, with time and just like dirt, Alito’s influence in the Supreme Court will be cleaned out. People have the chance to start the clean-up in November…VOTE.
They all do this, though. All conservatives really have are their projections.
Well, other than Johnson, Harry is in good company.
Or Macron. He was better than Le Pen, but not by much. We in the UK are in horrid shape, but France is only marginally better.
What a pathetic and horrible stance to take about people and their health. Separation of church and state and here we are being controlled by hateful justices who are obsessed with having everyone under their religious control and thinking. Shameful.
This man is absolutely vile.
What did I just watch. The arrogance, the insecurity (what irony), the sucking up to his audience. He is also deeply unfunny and a black hole of charisma.
He’s a SC Justice and can’t take the criticism? Embarrassing. Look, no disrespect to Harry. He’s doing admirable things with a position and privileges he was born into. But he’s no elected official, just a … I guess a private citizen and philanthropist now. And one of the dudes who just gleefully ruined women’s lives is bothered by him. Someone needs thicker skin. They knew how this decision would be received around the world, why so bothered?
Omg the guy is totally up himself. This doesn’t surprise me but yeesh. He disgusts me.
The US is in trouble with these Christian fundamentalists ruling the court.
Ayatollah Alito.
I’m stealing that. Fucking brilliant.
@ Jedi, count me in as well!!!
Too damn bad he is so young for a life position. He doesn’t deserve the job and never did. A travesty and sham. For so many of them on the court, frankly.
He thinks he won with those ‘barbs’ in that speech.
He is nothing but a court jester, paid to make ppl laugh at you and not with you.
And he is just as crappy as that as he is at being a justice.
Unfortunately, he’s not nearly as crappy a justice as Amy Corney Barrett – that girl is in over her head. Alito at least had real world experience (none involving empathy for women) w-3 yrs as chief federal prosecutor in NJ followed by 15 yrs as federal appellate judge; Corney, by contrast, has a thin resume; treats cases as academic exercises. Most of the time she avoids writing anything, opinions or dissents.
Progressives need system to counter Federalist Soc.
Fun Fact: Sam Alito bitterly protested the inclusion of women at Princeton University, his alma mater.
https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/politics/politicsspecial1/from-alitos-past-a-window-on-conservatives-at.html
Buckle up, ladies. This man hates and fears us to the depths of his bitterly corrupt soul.
I grieve for all those that will die due to the Dobbs decision.
Dude is a fucking monster like all of these judicial activists.
Not all at surprised. For Republicans, the cruelty is the point.
So many twisted fanatics in this counrty. Packing the court is the only way.
We desperately need to pack the court!!! I don’t know why Biden hasn’t jumped on that decision, as we are all under attack. They won’t stop at Dobbs either!! There is a long list of actions that they intend to rectify to fall in line with their radical Christian views!!!
We will never be safe until the court is packed, an Ethic’s title is secured for ALL SCOTUS members and term limits are imposed!!! And should a SCOTUS violate the terms of ethics, they are to be removed from the court.
@Both Sides Now Biden hasn’t jumped on it because it’s quite literally not his decision. It’s Congress’ decision to expand the court. Biden can pick nominees, but any motion to expand the number of court justices *must* go through Congress. It’s not part of the president’s executive powers, otherwise Drumpf would have used it. FDR was able to credibly threaten to expand the court because he had overwhelming numbers in Congress who would listen. Biden does not. And, quite bluntly, even *if* Biden tried to get that motion in progress, he would lose. There simply aren’t enough votes in both houses. And it would cost seats in the midterms.
The Rethugs and Talibangelicals have aimed at this for 40+ years in increasing lockstep. We, the Dems, have GOT to start thinking long term as well. Any Dem who can win, even a centrist, even a “moderate dem”, even f’ing Manchin, is better for the direction of the nation than another MTG, or Hawley, or Cruz, or any other even quasi-Trumper.
I support term limits for EVERYONE. President, Senators, Congress critters and especially SCOTUS judges. The problem is, none of them will pass that so long as it will effect their own cushy life. So, the other option is to bring up a bill that grandfathers everyone in that is currently in those seats. Apply the term limits to the next new person. That has slighty more of a snowball’s chance in h*ll (or Texas summer) of getting passed. It would still be a hard sell though.
As for Alito, he’s partially right when he says religious liberty is under attack – he and his ilk are the ones attacking it. I am not a Christian. I haven’t been in years. I have zero illusions that if they got everything they wanted, I’d be burned at the stake within 5 years.
What a terrible man, on the other hand for their safety I would really love Meghan and Harry not to get involved in some topics, those right wings people are crazy and clearly attack them
Bigoted moron correctly notes that religious liberty is under attack, lacks self-reflection to understand that he is the one attacking people’s freedom of religion in forcing his whacked out Catholicism into women’s bodies.
Betsy, it’s way beyond whacked out Catholicism. It’s the extreme evangelicals. I don’t call them christians, because they’re just extremists. We need to start having the other religions denounce what they’re doing in this Country. I think that’s a good first step. Then the majority needs to stop being silent. We need to be heard, and we need to be heard by EVERYONE.
Disgusting. He’s not a jurist. He’s a misogynistic fanatic pushing his Christian fascism on everyone else.
The right wing is trying to force their religious beliefs on the rest of us. Yet the Bible literally never mentions abortion as a sin even once, making their position all the more arbitrary.
They don’t want to hear about the physical risks that women face with pregnancy, let alone the financial and emotional risks. People who are miscarrying often need abortion drugs to avoid bleeding to death. I could go on.
The bottom line is that they aren’t willing to consider having even a shred of compassion for women.
With them, the cruelty is the point. They force their will if they can and then mock people who suffer as a result.
I’m so enraged by his comments. Hostility towards religion? No, hostile to having YOUR religious views impact MY medical care. My liberty is under attack, not your religious freedom.
Its not foreign leaders commenting on US law, it’s foreign leaders recognizing that an extremist religious sect has overtaken US law.
F*ck him and the horse he rode in on.
Get my Prime Minister’s name out of your filthy mouth, Alito. Justin ain’t perfect by any means, but he had every right – and obligation- to speak out about such a terrifying blow to human rights. Given that so many Canadian Conservative leaders are in bed with Republicans, there’s a great deal of justified concern here about what may happen to abortion and other civil rights if they come to power.
Conservative Christians (and I was raised as one) are so afraid of the coming of the Antichrist, yet they don’t recognize they put him and his cronies in the White House and SC.
The packed Supreme Court is one part of a plan long in the making. The religious right has been openly talking about their 100-year plan for a couple of decades now. They decided it didn’t matter they were a minority: if a couple has 10 children, and each of those children goes on to have 10 children and so on, in 100 hundred years they will have turned the country into a theocracy. They want to pack every court (and pharmacy!) along with any other governing body and developed christian universities to help accomplish this. It is literally a war against democracy. And they believe a woman should vote supporting her father’s and then her husband’s vote until they have total power, and then they will strip away a woman’s right to vote.
I agree with all the above commentators and also he’s telling on himself with the dark parts that fear people not like ourselves. Sounds like every republican ever. But is no one going to talk about the fact that it’s Notre Dame Law School that leaked this???? What brought that on? The dismay that he’s using a Catholic meeting to be so horrid? Or they want everyone to know this is who the Supreme Court is?? It just seems like there’s a bigger story with that.
I had no idea Alito hated women, was a fascist, a white supremacist, and a federalist. I’ve gotten quite the education since he became a majority member. Not knowing about him is on me. Not that knowing the background of the rest of the conservatives has done me any good, other than the screaming I indulged in during their confirmation hearings, which was cathartic.
History will not be kind. They don’t deserve their title!!! Wish they would all retire/ go away!!!!! We need term limits now. This is ridiculous
Since this story is at least partially about women’s reproductive rights, seems appropriate to share story about potential abortion solution for SE states by sea (not by land) – https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/07/abortion-care-boat-gulf-of-mexico.html
Recall going to Kaiser when pregnant with our first child and being told not to worry about abortion access because they would do it quietly for us (we’re in state w-out significant restrictions). Hopefully, women will be able to get meds by mail-order w-out interference under the new regime, but they’d need Rx first. Here’s a list of abortion funds by state if you want to donate, or use it to help those in your sphere – https://abortionfunds.org/funds/
I can’t believe he is painting himself as the victim and non-authoritarian when he has one of the most powerful jobs in the world and is using it to take away rights.
He is a MONSTER!
I like Harry but Alito’s jab at him is nowhere the most concerning thing here. What’s really jawdropping is that Supreme Court Justices are allowed to give paid speeches in a foreign country that are political in nature while referencing a court ruling. We have the Hatch act that doesn’t allow member of the Administration to give political opinions while also talking about their roles in government; is there not something similar for Supreme Court Justices?
Between this and Clarence Thomas not recusing himself from a ruling related to the 1/6 insurrection ,even though his wife Ginni Thomas seemed to be engaged in it, there really seems to be no attempts whatsoever by this court to try to appear impartial and ethical.
You would think he had more important statements to make than be concerned with other persons saying about his decisions whether they live in this country or not-I did not know they worried about the approval of others when they make their decisions-he should act like he works for the highest court in the land instead of a muckraker with a big mouth.
Religious liberties? How dare he. These people make fiction the truth and redefine words. They think it’s their manifest destiny to bring the rapture. I’m not kidding, this is the driving force of everything they do… meanwhile I doubt they know what language revelations was originally written in nor who presented the current English translation… but will base their whole life on it with no concern for who is trampled.
““BODILY AUTONOMY AND REPRODUCTIVE liberty is under attack in many places because it is dangerous to those who want to hold complete power,”…
There, fixed that for you!
Yet another christofascist extremist using projection and bad faith arguments.
We need term limits on the Supreme Court! Otherwise, they just become God Kings. No one should have the power to turn their personal opinions into law.
I find it horrific that Alito, speaking at some religious event, doesn’t even want to pretend he believes in the separation of church and state. Obviously Harry calling it out bothered him enough that he’s who came to mind along with elected politicians. Good for Harry for taking a moral stand for respecting women’s autonomy. As for those in the UK trying to say this is divisive, have they seen the state of politics in this country.
Universities are moving away from tenured positions. Tenure has outlived it’s original purpose. The Supreme Court should mandate term limits. No more lifetime job security
Genuinely curious but where are the mass sustained protests against the decision? I see lots of people complaining and saying how awful these justices are but I am not seeing hundreds of thousands of women out every weekend protesting. Tbh I mainly look at twitter, msnbc and cnn so perhaps there large protests happening but I am not seeing it. It mostly seems to be irate tutting online.
I will say large people