Justice Alito Gets It Wrong On The Supreme Court’s Legitimacy

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 26, 2022 – Speaking at the Heritage Foundation Tuesday night, Justice Samuel Alito expounded on his belief that critiques of the Supreme Court are unfounded. He also blamed the leak of Dobbs, as opposed to the content of Dobbs, for the way the justices have been targeted (including threats of violence).  

Alliance for Justice President Rakim H.D. Brooks issued the following statement: 

 “The more he complains about legitimate criticism of the Court, the more Justice Alito reminds us that he is concerned only with his own agenda and not his responsibility to the Constitution and the people it is designed to protect. We share Alito’s concerns about violence, but unlike the justice, we also extend that concern to the pregnant individuals subjected to state violence because of the Dobbs decision. They must now flee across state lines and travel hundreds of miles for life-saving procedures because of the Trump Court’s eagerness to criminalize abortion by falsely claiming that the Constitution does not protect people from such callousness. 

“We shouldn’t take Justice Alito’s bait that we must choose between respecting the rule of law and criticizing the institutions responsible for upholding it. The legitimacy Justice Alito demands must, in fact, be earned. The current Court has not earned it and is losing its legitimacy daily. It’s frankly impossible to take Justice Alito seriously when he says such things at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative mouthpiece for the rich and powerful that regularly tries to influence the Court. It’s another unfortunate reminder that there is no code of ethics governing the justices’ behavior and affiliations, including such displays of obvious partisan bias.”