Justice Samuel Alito
Supreme Court of the United States
Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr., was born in April 1950 in Trenton, New Jersey. He earned an undergraduate degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, then received his Juris Doctor at the Yale Law School. While at Princeton, he took time to study in Italy, writing a thesis on that country’s legal system. He was a member of the school’s Army ROTC program, attending a six-week basic training camp at Fort Knox, Kentucky. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Signal Corps and assigned to the U.S. Army Reserve. He served a period of active duty after graduating from Yale, and was a captain when he received an honorable discharge.
After law school, he clerked at the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, before becoming an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, a position he held for four years. He was named Assistant to the U.S. Solicitor General, which gave him the opportunity to argue a dozen cases before the Supreme Court on behalf of the federal government. After four years at that post, he became Deputy Assistant Attorney General during the tenure of Edwin Meese, later becoming the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey. He taught classes in constitutional law as an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark.
Alito was nominated by President George H.W. Bush to be a judge on the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals. He was confirmed by unanimous consent in the Senate and received his commission in April 1990. In 2005, President George W. Bush nominated Alito to a seat on the United States Supreme Court, replacing retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. After a failed filibuster attempt, the Senate confirmed him on a near party-line vote of 58-42. He assumed office on January 31, 2006.
He is married to Martha-Ann Bomgardner Alito, and they have two grown children. He is Catholic.
In the News…
Justice Samuel Alito dissented from the Supreme Court’s refusal to grant an appeal from President Trump’s administration over Judge Amir Ali’s deadline requiring the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development to pay $2 billion in foreign aid that had been paused for review. The court’s majority instructed the district judge to specify a reasonable timeframe under his temporary restraining order and for the amount of payments for work already completed that would comply.
Justice Alito wrote, “Does a single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the Government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) 2 billion taxpayer dollars? The answer to that question should be an emphatic ‘No,’ but a majority of this Court apparently thinks otherwise. I am stunned.”
Justice Alito continued, “Today, the Court makes a most unfortunate misstep that rewards an act of judicial hubris and imposes a $2 billion penalty on American taxpayers. The District Court has made plain its frustration with the Government, and respondents raise serious concerns about nonpayment for completed work.“
He added, “But the relief ordered is, quite simply, too extreme a response. A federal court has many tools to address a party’s supposed nonfeasance. Self-aggrandizement of its jurisdiction is not one of them. I would chart a different path than the Court does today, so I must respectfully dissent.“
Justice Alito was joined in his dissent by Justices Thomas, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh.
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Justice Alito today? You can let him know at:
The Honorable Justice Samuel Alito
Supreme Court of the United States
1 First Street NE
Washington, DC 20543
