Samuel Alito

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Samuel Alito
Image of Samuel Alito

Nonpartisan

Supreme Court of the United States
Tenure

2006 - Present

Years in position

18

Prior offices
United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit
Successor: Joseph Greenaway

Education

Bachelor's

Princeton University, 1972

Law

Yale Law School, 1975

Personal
Birthplace
Trenton, N.J.

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Samuel A. Alito, Jr. is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. President George W. Bush (R) nominated him on October 31, 2005, to fill the seat left vacant by Sandra Day O'Connor. The U.S. Senate confirmed him on January 31, 2006, in a 58-42 vote, and he was sworn in hours later.[1]

Alito was born in Trenton, New Jersey, on April 1, 1950.[2] Alito attended Princeton University, graduating in 1972 with a degree in political science. While at Princeton, he participated in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC).[3] In 1975, Alito graduated from Yale Law School, where he served as editor of the Yale Law Journal.[4][5]

Alito began his legal career in 1976 clerking for Leonard Garth on the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. Alito served in a variety of roles as a lawyer for the federal government between 1977 and 1990, including as an assistant to the U.S. solicitor general, during which he argued 12 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.[6][4] President Ronald Reagan (R) appointed him U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey in 1987.[3][4] In 1990, President George Bush (R) nominated Alito to the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, where he remained until his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court in October 2005.

Bush initially nominated White House Counsel Harriet Miers to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court.[7] However, Miers, under scrutiny from Republicans who said she did not have a record of pro-life stances on abortion, withdrew her nomination.[8][9] Bush then nominated Alito, saying, "He understands judges are to interpret the laws, not to impose their preferences or priorities on the people.”[10]

Describing his judicial philosophy, Alito said: "Take the Fourth Amendment. We have to decide whether something is a reasonable search or seizure. That’s really all the text of the Constitution tells us. We can look at what was understood to be reasonable at the time of the adoption of the Fourth Amendment. But when you have to apply that to things like a GPS that nobody could have dreamed of then, I think all you have is the principle and you have to use your judgment to apply it. I think I would consider myself a practical originalist."[11]

Between the time he joined the court and the end of the 2023-2024 term, Alito authored the majority opinion in a 5-4 decision 27 times and authored a dissent in an 8-1 decision 12 times. The table below details these cases by year. Alito's notable opinions while on the United States Supreme Court include:

  • the 6-3 majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), which held that the U.S. Constitution did not provide a right to abortion.
  • the 5-4 majority opinion in Janus v. AFSCME (2018), which held public sector unions could not require non-member employees to pay agency fees.
  • his dissenting opinion in Snyder v. Phelps (2011), in which he disagreed with the majority opinion upholding the right of individuals to peacefully protest the funerals of military service members.
  • the 5-4 majority opinion in McDonald v. Chicago (2010), which held the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment limits the ability of municipalities to pass laws and ordinances infringing on the Second Amendment.

According to Constitutional Accountability Center Chief Counsel Brianne Gorod, "What each case demonstrates, however, is Justice Alito’s consistent commitment to conservative principles—even when that requires deviating from precedent to move the law in his desired direction."[12]

Professional career

Early life and education

Alito received a bachelor's degree from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1972. He received a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1975.[13]

While at Yale, Alito was the chairman and main developer of a conference that produced a report called "The Boundaries of Privacy in American Society" in 1972. To read the full report, click here.

Alito was also an editor for the Yale Law Journal.[14]

Military service

Alito was drafted to serve in the Vietnam War on December 1, 1969. He deferred his service while enrolled in college.[15] While at Princeton, he joined the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) so that he could enter active service as an officer after college. Alito was commissioned as a second lieutenant after his graduation from Princeton, but deferred his service a second time as he entered Yale Law School. After graduation from law school, he served three months of active service from September to December of 1975. Alito served in the Army Reserve from 1972 until 1980, when he was honorably discharged with the rank of captain.[16]

Approach to the law

Alito has a conservative judicial philosophy.[17] Oyez, a law project created by Cornell’s Legal Information Institute, Justia, and Chicago-Kent College of Law, said that he is "known for his right wing leanings that sometimes encompass libertarian ideals."[18] In January 2019, The National Law Journal called Alito "perhaps the Supreme Court's most reliable conservative."[19]

Martin-Quinn score

Alito's Martin-Quinn score following the 2023-2024 term was 2.56, making him the second most conservative justice on the court at that time. Martin-Quinn scores were developed by political scientists Andrew Martin and Kevin Quinn from the University of Michigan, and measure the justices of the Supreme Court along an ideological continuum. The further from zero on the scale, the more conservative (>0) or liberal (<0) the justice. These are preliminary scores provided by Kevin Quinn that may differ slightly from the final version of the scores that Martin and Quinn will make publicly available at a later date.


The chart below details every justice's Martin-Quinn score for the 2023-2024 term.


Judicial career

United States Supreme Court (2006 - present)

Nomination Tracker
Fedbadgesmall.png
Nominee Information
Name: Samuel Alito
Court: Supreme Court of the United States
Progress
Confirmed 92 days after nomination.
ApprovedANominated: October 31, 2005
ApprovedAABA Rating: Unanimously Well Qualified
Questionnaire: Questionnaire
ApprovedAHearing: January 9-13, 2006
QFRs: QFRs (Hover over QFRs to read more)
ApprovedAReported: January 24, 2006 
ApprovedAConfirmed: January 31, 2006
ApprovedAVote: 58-42

On October 31, 2005, Alito was the third person to be nominated by President George W. Bush to the vacancy that was created when Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement from the Supreme Court of the United States. The first was John Roberts, who was then nominated to be Chief Justice after William Rehnquist passed away. The second was Harriet Miers, who withdrew her nomination after facing opposition. Alito was confirmed on January 31, 2006, on a Senate vote of 58-42. Shortly after the vote, Alito was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts.[20][21]

Third Circuit Court of Appeals (1990-2006)

Alito was nominated by President George H.W. Bush to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit on February 20, 1990. He filled the vacancy created by John Gibbons, who passed away on January 15, 1990. Alito was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on April 27, 1990, and received commission on April 30, 1990. Alito served on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals until his confirmation to the Supreme Court of the United States. Alito's vacancy on the Third Circuit was filled by Joseph Greenaway.[13]

Supreme Court statistics

Opinions by year

Below is a table of the number of opinions, concurrences, and dissents that Alito has issued since joining the Supreme Court according to the data from Cornell University’s Legal Information Institute and from the annual Stat Pack produced by the website SCOTUSBlog. This information is updated annually at the end of each term.[22][23][24][25] Information for the 2022 term is from a dataset provided by Dr. Adam Feldman, author of Empirical SCOTUS. Data for the 2022-2023 term does not include concurrences and dissents in part. Information for the 2023-2024 term is from the Empirical SCOTUS 2023 Stat Review.

Opinions written by year, Samuel Alito
2022-2023 2023-2024
Opinions 6 4
Concurrences 4 8
Dissents 8 4
Totals 18 16




Justice agreement

In the 2023-2024 term, Alito had the highest agreement rate with Clarence Thomas. Alito had the lowest agreement rate with Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.[26] In the 2022-2023 term, Alito had the highest agreement rate with Neil Gorsuch, and the lowest agreement rate with Elena Kagan.[27]

The table below highlights Alito's agreement rate with each justice on the court during that term.[28][29]

Samuel Alito agreement rates by term, 2017 - Present
Justice 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024
John Roberts 77% 89% 77% 83% 70% 78% 83%
Anthony Kennedy 82% N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Clarence Thomas 93% 85% 92% 82% 73% 85% 90%
Ruth Bader Ginsburg 54% 57% 51% N/A N/A N/A N/A
Stephen Breyer 54% 64% 54% 59% 38% N/A N/A
Sonia Sotomayor 49% 57% 46% 53% 30% 62% 53%
Elena Kagan 57% 64% 55% 58% 40% 60% 53%
Neil Gorsuch 83% 74% 79% 88% 65% 87% 83%
Brett Kavanaugh N/A 91% 80% 86% 68% 80% 84%
Amy Coney Barrett N/A N/A N/A 87% 72% 78% 81%
Ketanji Brown Jackson N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 64% 59%

Frequency in majority

In the 2023-2024 term, Alito was in the majority in 81 percent of decisions. He was in the majority more often than five other justices.[26] In the 2022-2023 term, Alito was in the majority in 80 percent of decisions. He was in the majority more often than six other justices.[27][25][30][31]
Since the 2011-2012 term, Alito has been in the majority more than 80 percent of the time eight times. Across those terms, he has been in the majority on average 81 percent of the time.[32][25][26]

Noteworthy cases

See also: Noteworthy cases heard by current justices on the U.S. Supreme Court

The noteworthy cases listed in this section include any case where the justice authored a 5-4 majority opinion or an 8-1 dissent. Other cases may be included in this section if they set or overturn an established legal precedent, are a major point of discussion in an election campaign, receive substantial media attention related to the justice's ruling, or based on our editorial judgment that the case is noteworthy. For more on how we decide which cases are noteworthy, click here.


Since he joined the court through the 2023-2024 term, Alito authored the majority opinion in a 5-4 decision 27 times and authored a dissent in an 8-1 decision 12 times. The table below details these cases by year.[33]

Samuel Alito noteworthy cases
Year 5-4 majority opinion 8-1 dissenting opinion
Total 27 12
2023-2024 1 0
2022-2023 0 2
2021-2022 0 0
2020-2021 0 1
2019-2020 2 1
2018-2019 2 0
2017-2018 3 2
2016-2017 0 0
2015-2016 0 1
2014-2015 3 1
2013-2014 2 0
2012-2013 5 2
2011-2012 1 0
2010-2011 0 1
2009-2010 3 1
2008-2009 1 0
2007-2008 1 0
2006-2007 3 0

U.S. Supreme Court noteworthy opinions

Non-citizens may not cancel removal orders in absentia lacking time and date details (2024)

See also: Campos-Chaves v. Garland

Alito authored a 5-4 opinion in Campos-Chaves v. Garland, holding, "Because each of the aliens in this case received a proper §1229(a)(2) notice for the hearings they missed and at which they were ordered removed, they cannot seek rescission of their in absentia removal orders on the basis of defective notice under §1229a(b)(5)(C)(ii)."[34] Alito was joined in the majority by Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. Alito wrote:[34]

“ Today’s decision does not mean that the Government is free of its obligation to provide an NTA. That document has an important place within the statutory scheme because it contains information that aliens may need to present their case, including the conduct for which they are charged and the provisions of law they allegedly violated. See§§1229(a)(1)(A)–(E). Although an alien who receives only paragraph (2) notice must still attend the hearing or face in absentia removal, he can raise issues regarding incomplete notice at that time. That gives the immigration judge a chance to reschedule the hearing to cure any prejudice from the missing information. But §1229a(b)(5)(C)(ii) does not allow aliens to seek rescission of removal orders in perpetuity based on arguments they could have raised in a hearing that they chose to skip.[35] ”
—Justice Samuel Alito


No right to abortion under the U.S. Constitution (2022)

See also: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

Alito authored a 6-3 majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, holding that the U.S. Constitution did not provide a right to abortion. Alito was joined in the majority by Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. Chief Justice John Roberts joined with the majority to uphold Mississippi's abortion law but not to overturn Roe and Casey. Alito wrote:

“ We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely—the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth

Amendment. That provision has been held to guarantee some rights that are not mentioned in the Constitution, but any such right must be “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition” and “implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.” Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U. S. 702, 721 (1997) (internal quotation marks omitted).

The right to abortion does not fall within this category.[35]

”
—Justice Alito

Preemption and the Immigration Reform and Control Act (2019)

See also: Kansas v. Garcia

Alito authored a 5-4 majority opinion in Kansas v. Garcia, holding the Kansas statutes under which respondents Ramiro Garcia, Donaldo Morales, and Guadalupe Ochoa-Lara were convicted "are not expressly preempted." Alito was joined in the majority by Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh.

“ Kansas law makes it a crime to commit “identity theft” or engage in fraud to obtain a benefit. Respondents—three aliens who are not authorized to work in this country—were convicted under these provisions for fraudulently using another person’s Social Security number on state and federal tax-withholding forms that they submitted when they obtained employment. The Supreme Court of Kansas held that a provision of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), 100 Stat. 3359, expressly preempts the Kansas statutes at issue insofar as they provide a basis for these prosecutions. We reject this reading of the provision in question, as well as respondents’ alternative arguments based on implied preemption. We therefore reverse.[35] ”
—Justice Alito

Suing federal agents in a personal capacity (2019)

See also: Hernandez v. Mesa

Alito authored a 5-4 majority opinion in Hernandez v. Mesa, holding the plaintiffs could not sue a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent for damages under the U.S. Constitution and that the Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Fed. Bureau of Narcotics (Bivens) holding did not extend to claims based on a cross-border shooting. Alito was joined in the majority by Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh.

“ These factors can all be condensed to the concern for respecting the separation of powers. The most important question is whether Congress or the courts should create a damages remedy. Here the answer is Congress. Congress’s failure to act does not compel the Court to step into its shoes.[35] ”
—Justice Alito

Previous noteworthy opinions


Appeals court opinions

Anti-harassment policy impedes free speech (2001)

In 2001, Samuel Alito wrote the opinion in Saxe v. State College Area School District, a case that involved a group of students who argued that an anti-harassment policy impeded their free speech to voice that homosexuality is a sin. In the ruling, Alito wrote that the district's anti-harassment policy was too broad, in violation of the federal guidelines for discriminatory speech. Alito stated that the problem did not reside in the intent of the policy to protect the learning environment, but instead, the problem was in the District's attempt to define harassment as any unwelcome verbal, written, or physical contact which offends. The court found that the definition of harassment allowed too much interpretation of what is considered offensive. The court struck down the lower court's ruling, stating that its logic was flawed in upholding the school district's policy to be constitutional.[47]

Pennsylvania abortion law upheld in part (1992)

Samuel Alito was part of a three-judge panel that heard Planned Parenthood v. Casey, an appeal of a Pennsylvania law that required recipients of abortions to hear about the detriments of abortions, inform their husbands about the abortion, required minors to notify parents and receive consent, wait 24 hours before an abortion, and imposed reporting mandates on facilities that provided abortions. The majority of the panel ruled that the law did not pose an undue burden, barring the spousal notification. The majority ruled that contacting the possible father posed an unconstitutional burden to the woman. Alito dissented on the spousal notification, stating the plaintiffs offered no substantial evidence that women seeking an abortion would be forced to provide proof of notification outside of a verbal affirmation.[48]

The Supreme Court of the United States affirmed the Third Circuit's majority opinion in part, ruling that the spousal notification was unconstitutional. The court stated that even if the law only affects one percent of women seeking an abortion, that the father's interest in the fetus does not trump the liberties afforded to the woman.[49]

See also

External links


Footnotes

  1. ↑ New York Times, "Alito Is Sworn In as Justice After 58-42 Vote to Confirm Him," January 31, 2006
  2. ↑ United States Supreme Court, "Current Members," accessed July 12, 2024
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Oyez, "Samuel A. Alito, Jr.," accessed July 12, 2024
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 USA Today, "Who is Justice Samuel A. Alito? Supreme Court justice who wrote opinion overturning Roe v. Wade," June 24, 2022
  5. ↑ The Yale Law Journal, "Samuel A. Alito's Note," September 1, 2006
  6. ↑ Congress, "Samuel A. Alito, Jr. United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary," accessed July 12, 2024
  7. ↑ Confirmation Tales, "Samuel Alito Gets Big Boost from Harriet Miers Fiasco," May 16, 2024
  8. ↑ NPR, "Republican Opposition Made Miers Bid Untenable," October 27, 2005
  9. ↑ The New York Times, "Miers Ends Supreme Court Bid After Failing to Win Support," October 27, 2005
  10. ↑ Politico, "Bush nominates Alito, Oct. 31, 2005," October 31, 2013
  11. ↑ The American Spectator, "Sam Alito: A Civil Man," April 21, 2014
  12. ↑ The Yale Law Journal, "Sam Alito: The Court’s Most Consistent Conservative," January 24, 2017
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Federal Judicial Center, "Alito, Samuel A. Jr.," accessed April 14, 2021
  14. ↑ PBS, "Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr.," accessed April 14, 2021
  15. ↑ Selective Service System, "RESULTS FROM LOTTERY DRAWING - Vietnam Era 1970," accessed January 3, 2014
  16. ↑ Washington Post, "Alito joined ROTC while at Princeton," November 3, 2005
  17. ↑ CNN, "Alito's record shows conservative judge," October 31, 2005
  18. ↑ Oyez, "Samuel Alito," accessed April 14, 2021
  19. ↑ The National Law Journal, "Conservative Samuel Alito Channels Liberal Icon Thurgood Marshall on Religion," January 24, 2019
  20. ↑ New York Times, "Alito sworn in as justice after senate gives approval," February 1, 2006
  21. ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, "Current Members," accessed April 14, 2021
  22. ↑ Cornell University, "WRITINGS BY JUSTICE ALITO," accessed January 21, 2014
  23. ↑ SCOTUSBlog, "Final Stat Pack for October Term 2016 and key takeaways," accessed April 16, 2018
  24. ↑ SCOTUSBlog, "Final Stat Pack for October Term 2017 and key takeaways," accessed October 4, 2018
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 SCOTUSblog, "STAT PACK for the Supreme Court’s 2021-22 term," July 1, 2022
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 Empirical SCOTUS, "2023 Stat Review," July 1, 2024
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Empirical SCOTUS, "Another One Bites the Dust: End of 2022/2023 Supreme Court Term Statistics," November 16, 2023
  28. ↑ Due to a change in the 2020 stat pack format, the agreement rate uses the rate of agreement in judgment.
  29. ↑ Due to a change in the 2021 stat pack format, the agreement rate uses the rate of agreement in judgment.
  30. ↑ SCOTUSblog, "2020-21 Stat pack: Frequency in the majority," July 2, 2021
  31. ↑ SCOTUSblog, "Frequency in the Majority," accessed September 21, 2020
  32. ↑ SCOTUSblog, "OT18 Frequency in the Majority," accessed July 3, 2019
  33. ↑ The Supreme Court Database, "Analysis," accessed June 11, 2019
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Supreme Court of the United States, Campos-Chaves v. Garland, decided June 14, 2024
  35. ↑ 35.00 35.01 35.02 35.03 35.04 35.05 35.06 35.07 35.08 35.09 35.10 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  36. ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, Nielsen v. Preap, March 19, 2019
  37. ↑ United States Supreme Court, "Mitchell v. Wisconsin," Opinion, June 27, 2019
  38. ↑ Oyez, "Husted v. Randolph Institute," accessed June 10, 2019
  39. ↑ United States Supreme Court, "Husted v. Randolph Institute Opinion," June 11, 2018
  40. ↑ Internal citations and quotations omitted.
  41. ↑ Oyez, "Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31," accessed June 10, 2019
  42. ↑ United States Supreme Court, "Janus v. AFSCME Opinion," June 27, 2018
  43. ↑ Oyez, "Abbott v. Perez," accessed June 10, 2019
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 Bloomberg Law, "Snyder v. Phelps, 131 S. Ct. 1207, 179 L. Ed. 2d 172, 2011 ILRC 1405, 39 Med. L. Rptr. 1353 (2011)," accessed January 22, 2014
  45. ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, Albert Snyder v. Fred W. Phelps Sr. et al., March 2, 2011
  46. ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, "McDonald v. City of Chicago," June 28, 2010
  47. ↑ U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, David Warren Saxe v. State College Area School District; Constance Martin, accessed January 22, 2014
  48. ↑ U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania et al. v. Robert P. Casey, et al. accessed January 22, 2014
  49. ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, accessed January 22, 2014

Political offices
Preceded by
- 		Supreme Court of the United States
2006-Present		 Succeeded by
-
Preceded by
- 		United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit
1990-2006		 Succeeded by
Joseph Greenaway


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