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Who Is Samuel Alito?
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has had a distinguished legal career following his education at Princeton University and Yale Law School. Before his appointment to the Supreme Court, he served in various capacities, including with the U.S. Department of Justice and as the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey. In 1990, Alito was appointed as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Sixteen years later, he was nominated by President George W. Bush to the Supreme Court, where he has consistently aligned with conservative judicial philosophies.
Early Life and Education
Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. was born on April 1, 1950, in Trenton, New Jersey, to Italian immigrant parents. His father, a teacher and director of the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services, and his mother, a school principal, played significant roles in shaping his academic aspirations. Alito attended Steinert High School in Trenton, where he excelled academically, leading to his acceptance into Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
During his time at Princeton, Alito demonstrated a blend of interests. He chaired a conference advocating for limitations on domestic intelligence gathering and the enhancement of rights for the LGBTQ community. However, he was also involved with a campus organization that opposed affirmative action, reflecting a complex ideological landscape. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1972, Alito pursued his legal education at Yale Law School, where he served as editor of the Yale Law Journal. He completed his studies in 1975 and subsequently began his professional career in Newark, New Jersey.
Legal Career
Samuel Alito’s legal career began in 1976 when he served as a law clerk for Judge Leonard I. Garth on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Following this position, he was appointed as an assistant district attorney for the District of New Jersey, where he focused on prosecuting cases related to drug trafficking and organized crime. Alito was particularly passionate about these cases, motivated by his belief that organized crime adversely affected the reputation of Italian Americans. After four years in the district attorney’s office, Alito transitioned to Washington, D.C., where he became an assistant to the solicitor general in the U.S. Justice Department. In this role, he represented the government in cases before the Supreme Court, a goal he had aspired to for many years.
In 1985, Alito married Martha-Ann Bomgardner, and together they have two children. That same year, he took on the role of deputy assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice, serving in this capacity until 1987 when he returned to New Jersey as a U.S. attorney. Over the next three years, he continued to focus on prosecuting cases, particularly those involving organized crime, which helped establish his reputation as a competent legal expert.
From Judge to Supreme Court Justice
In 1990, President George H. W. Bush appointed Alito as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He served on the court for 16 years, often as part of the conservative minority and frequently issuing dissenting opinions. Notably, in the case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Alito was the sole judge advocating for the upholding of a provision in a Pennsylvania statute requiring women to notify their husbands before obtaining an abortion. Throughout his tenure on the Court of Appeals, Alito also contributed to academia as an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University, where he taught courses on constitutional law and terrorism and civil liberties.
On October 31, 2005, President George W. Bush nominated Alito to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. His confirmation hearings were marked by controversy, including attempts by Senator John Kerry to initiate a filibuster and opposition from the American Civil Liberties Union, which expressed concerns about Alito’s record on individual freedoms. Despite these challenges, he was confirmed by a narrow margin of 58–42 in January 2006.
Obamacare and Same-Sex Marriage Rulings
During his tenure on the Supreme Court, Alito has generally aligned with conservative principles, occasionally deviating from this stance. In 2015, he issued dissenting opinions in two significant rulings. On June 25, he was one of three justices—alongside Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia—who dissented in King v. Burwell, which upheld a critical component of the Affordable Care Act, allowing the federal government to provide subsidies to Americans purchasing health care through exchanges, regardless of their operation. This ruling, delivered by Chief Justice John Roberts, was a notable victory for President Barack Obama and made the Affordable Care Act more difficult to challenge.
The following day, in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court ruled 5–4 to legalize same-sex marriage across all 50 states. Alito again joined the conservative minority in dissent, arguing that the recognition of same-sex marriage contradicted long-established traditions and that the ruling could be used to suppress dissenting viewpoints.