Samuel Alito Dodges Easy Question About His Supreme Court Colleagues

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(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

All is not well at the Supreme Court.

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Last week Justice Samuel Alito spoke for the first time following the leak of his draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, which will overturn reproductive freedom in this country. The justice appeared at an event at ASSLaw — otherwise known as George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, for the uninitiated — and he couldn’t handle even a pretty basic inquiry.

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As reported by the Washington Post, the last question of the evening was an easy one. The questioner wanted to know if, given all the scrutiny the Court is currently receiving, if the justices are at a place where they could enjoy a meal together — “I think it would just be really helpful for all of us to hear, personally, are you all doing okay in these very challenging times?”

Folks, this was not a trick question. Yet, Alito does more tap dancing than if he were asked to talk about Bruno (no, no, no).

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“This is a subject I told myself I wasn’t going to talk about today regarding, you know — given all the circumstances,” Alito replied.

After a pause, he added: “The court right now, we had our conference this morning, we’re doing our work. We’re taking new cases, we’re headed toward the end of the term, which is always a frenetic time as we get our opinions out.”

The court gathered Thursday for the first time since the draft opinion was disclosed to Politico and the court’s chief justice, John G. Roberts Jr., opened a leak investigation.

After detailing the schedule for getting the court’s work done by the end of June or early July, Alito skipped the usual boilerplate that justices tend to employ about disagreeing about the law but remaining respectful and friendly.

Instead, he concluded: “So that’s where we are.”

We’ve been speculating for a minute that the decision to overturn 50 years worth of reproductive freedom precedent was leaving some cracks in the interpersonal relationships on the Court. But without saying, well, much of anything, Alito’s answer here speaks volumes.

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Oh, and lest you think this was the only thing of note Alito said during the speech, he also went off on the Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which extended Title VII protections under the Civil Rights Act to gay and transgender employees, saying Neil Gorsuch’s decision in that case was “indefensible.” The right really won’t be satisfied until the entire country is remade to its liking.

Alito’s ire towards his “colleague and friend” Neil Gorsuch is something to keep in mind the next time someone tries to gaslight you and insists that gay rights (or contraception or interracial marriage or IVF or travel bans or school segregation) isn’t on the far right’s agenda.

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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Alito Leak, ASSLaw, Courts, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, Samuel Alito, SCOTUS, Supreme Court