Samuel Alito Is Exactly Who You Thought He Was

[In It to Win It]

B&S

Earlier this year, Justice Samuel Alito at last spoke publicly about the leak of his draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, in which five conservative justices ultimately voted to overturn Roe v. Wade and end the right to abortion care. “It was a grave betrayal of trust by somebody,” a solemn Alito told his audience at the Heritage Foundation. He also excoriated the leaker for placing his life and the lives of his colleagues in jeopardy by making them “targets for assassination” in the weeks that followed.

On Saturday, The New York Times published a bombshell report suggesting that Alito might be less suited to a black robe than a novelty plush hot dog suit. In it, a prominent former anti-choice activist claims that Dobbs was not the first leak of a Supreme Court case with an Alito-adjacent outcome. In 2014, says the Rev. Rob Schenck, a fellow anti-choice activist named Gayle Wright tipped him off that Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, a pending case about exempting “religious” corporations from their legal obligations to pay for employees’ contraceptive care, would come down in Hobby Lobby’s favor, and that Alito would write the opinion. Wright allegedly told Schenck this the day after enjoying a private dinner with none other than Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann, and three weeks before the opinion was released.

The official position of Alito and his colleagues, however, is that they are not Republican politicians—that as Supreme Court justices who have sworn an oath to uphold the rule of law, they work above the grimy partisan fray, and their rulings are thus entitled to respect and acceptance even among those who disagree. As the Court’s approval rating continues to nosedive, Alito has taken doth-protest-too-much exception to the suggestion that the institution’s legitimacy is in any sort of jeopardy. “Everyone is free to criticize our reasoning, and to do it in strong terms,” he said last month. But, he continued, “to say that the Court is exhibiting a lack of integrity is something quite different. That goes to character.”

The Hobby Lobby leak story is only the latest bit of evidence that Alito’s purported distinction here is and has always been meaningless, embarrassing horseshit—part of a transparent effort to repackage policymaking by judicial fiat as the product of anodyne legal process. The Court’s 6-3 conservative supermajority makes it the most important source of right-wing political power in America today, and the life tenure its members enjoy protects them from ever facing consequences for cheerfully abusing it. Alito is and has always been what he has long insisted he is not: a loyal Republican foot soldier who happens to work across the street from the Capitol, instead of inside it.

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. How Samuel Alito's hypocrisy is fueling the crisis at the Supreme Court The justice reportedly told

Alito is a partisan hack. Alito hates being called a partisan hack and I do not pass up the opportunity to call this partisan hack by his correct description. Alito is ignoring stare decis to advance a partisan right wing nutjob agenda

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https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/alito-s-abortion-decision-showed-total-lack-integrity-n1300368?cid=sm_npd_ms_tw_ma

When he was a nominee to the high court, Democrats like the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, feared that Alito would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade if confirmed. According to a new book, “Ted Kennedy: A Life,” Ailto told Kennedy in 2005 that he believed a constitutional right to privacy — which provided the foundation for Roe’s protection of abortion — was “settled.” He also tried to assure Kennedy by saying, “I am a believer in precedents.”

Alito similarly tried to minimize a memo he wrote in 1985 as a member of the Justice Department in which he voiced his opposition to Roe. Alito, according to the book, told Kennedy there was nothing to worry about — the memo was simply a way to try to impress his boss and get a promotion.

Kennedy wasn’t buying what Alito was selling and voted against his confirmation. That was wise. After almost two decades on the court, Alito had finally obtained enough conservative colleagues to join his crusade to overturn Roe to allow him to author this June’s Dobbs decision. In doing so, he wrote that “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.” That doesn’t sound like someone who believes in precedent or that Roe was settled law.

Just a day after the details of Kennedy and Alito’s meeting became public knowledge as details from the book were published, Alito spoke at the conservative Heritage Foundation where he touched on a number of topics, including the public backlash during the court’s most recent term. In response to a question about his draft opinion of the Dobbs decision leaking in early May, Alito said the breach of secrecy made him and his conservative colleagues “targets for assassination.”.....

But Alito and his colleagues seem to make decisions without regard to these consequences. Alito instead cherry-picked history and precedent to conclude that that women should no longer have a constitutionally protected right to abortion. In the process, Alito apparently broke his assurances to Kennedy, yet now clutches his pearls and plays the victim.

Alito misses the point if he thinks the crisis of legitimacy the Supreme Court faces is simply about people disagreeing with his rulings. The issue is his hypocrisy and willful ignorance of the harm his rulings produce

[yankee87]

15. Altio has no morals

We all know Alito has no morals and will take the country back to 1850 when only white men could vote and slavery was state right. Also after all three of the latest lied about Roe, committed perjury and are still there.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. There should absolutely be an impeachment inquiry and investigation

Link to tweet

[brush]

3. He's a religious nut who bided his time for decades to overturn Roe.

He's done much damage and needs to be off the court.

[SharonAnn]

4. He is a loyal Opus Dei foot soldier on our Supreme Court. His agenda is Opus Dei's.

Opus Dei goes after judgeships in every country. They know that’s where the ultimate power lies.
They want total control.

[Bayard]

5. If we impeach Alito,

Would also have to impeach Thomas, Kavenaugh, and Barrett. They're all rethuglican "christian," hacks.

[SharonAnn]

13. True. When can we start?

[randr]

6. Men in black robes making laws for everyone

A bad idea in any society.

[Initech]

7. Another MAGA religious right shithead.

[SWBTATTReg]

8. This supreme court will go down in history as one of the most partisan supreme courts ever.

And these thugs (not all of them) beseech others to uphold the spirit of the law, to respect the law, the courts when decisions are made, etc. but it's damn hard to respect the law and those that ruled on laws (overturning, or whatever) being that they are grossly partisan in their decision making.

The spirit of the supreme court has been ruined by partisan hacks. No more, no less.

Pls. notice that I no longer will honor this court by capitalizing 'supreme court'.

Since they refuse to honor the true spirit of the wide and vast collection of laws that make the U.S. tick, and then willfully take a knife to long established laws (such as Roe vs. Wade and others) and slash through them/overturn them using false and ignorant reasoning? And then lying too, in the course of their duties by passing along word of what they've done to others (and actually trying to blame an unknown person who had leaked the overturning of Roe, when it was Alito).

I used to have massive confidence in this court. No longer. I guess the only hope that we have left is the vast body, the vast majority of judges that are currently out there on the bench, upholding the law. I don't have any confidence in the supreme court upholding any laws anymore, that their partisan hacks don't like.

[Tommymac]

11. I lost all respect for TSC when the Rethugs nominated and the Senate accepted Clarence Thomas.

And time to admit an ugly truth: Dems were partly complicit in that. We did not back Anita Hill as far as we could have.

And to be fair, those Senators did not realize at the time they were approving a package deal.

But it is also time to move on from that long ago mistake and try and put as much Truthful yet negative public pressure on Ginny The Terrorist and her puppet Clarence The Misogynist as we can.

[Wild blueberry]

9. A cruel asshole

[Scalded Nun]

10. Told my wife while he was being confirmed that he would be the most evil person sitting on the court

[bronxiteforever]

12. Alito is a pandering political hack masquerading

as a legal scholar. I hope historians of the Court crap all over his legacy for centuries to come.

[Baitball Blogger]

14. He's a religious zealot that was never suited for the Supreme Court.

[Hekate]

16. As Alito thinks he is a medieval ecclesiastic, perhaps he needs to be fitted for a cardinal's hat...

But he sure as hell doesn’t belong on the high court of a country that since its founding has pledged to keep a wall of separation between church and state.

When he whines about religious liberty, that is the furthest thing from his mind. For him and his ilk, there’s only one religion and the “liberty” is to worship at its altars and no others.

He took an actual oath to protect the US Constitution. He is foresworn of that oath. However, it is possible that oaths to Opus Dei are considered by them to override all others. Wrong — he needs to be impeached.

[czarjak]

17. Catholic character has been an issue for anti-Catholics like the Klan since at least 1865...

Bushie.

[harumph]

18. I've thought for awhile that he is a hack and a joke.

Nice to see others catching on.

[msfiddlestix]

19. Yes, we knew what he was when he wasnominated back nearly 20 years ago, mighty attempt to prevent

his confirmation. We engaged in intense campaigns against him being seated on the bench.

Petitions, telepone calls to our Senators, emailing, protesting on the streets across the country. Begging our D Senators to use every tool available to them to block his confirmation. I remember it well.

So many of us were not ever fooled by him.

The one thing I don't remember is that he worked in the Justice Department, until now. Either that bit missed my radar at the time, or I didn't consider it important in the scheme of things..

The war in Iraq was raging then, we had so many issues on our plate to fight against including the NRA, perhaps we should have combined that fight with the fight against the Federalists Society.

Exhausted thinking about it all, which may be the point. cuz that's how evil wins.

[ck4829]

20. Taking down the legitimacy of the SCOTUS

That's Samuel Alito for you.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

21. Mockalito and the rest of the Subversive 6 are unfit to serve on the Supreme Court.