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“Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is heard questioning whether compromise between the left and right is possible in a conversation posted on social media. The conservative justice is also heard agreeing with a woman who says the United States should return ‘to a place of godliness.’…
“The audio was posted Monday on X by liberal filmmaker Lauren Windsor. She said it was recorded at the Supreme Court Historical Society’s annual dinner last week. ‘One side or the other is going to win,’ Alito said. ‘There can be a way of working, a way of living together peacefully, but it’s difficult, you know, because there are differences on fundamental things that really can’t be compromised.’…
“Windsor also spoke with Chief Justice John Roberts, who rejected a similar argument. When Windsor suggested the court should lead the nation on a ‘Christian’ path, Roberts responded, ‘I don’t know if that’s true.’” AP News
Here’s our previous coverage of Alito. The Flip Side
The left is divided about the recording and critical of Alito’s jurisprudence.
Some argue, “It’s hard to imagine a clearer violation of journalistic ethics than pretending to hold beliefs you don’t, asking Supreme Court justices if they agree, and surreptitiously recording their answers at a no-media dinner. The novelty of the stunt, however, shouldn’t distract us from the real takeaway, which is precisely that the recordings yielded nothing we didn’t already know.”
Noah Feldman, Bloomberg
“Make no mistake that Alito is a culture warrior. He is not particularly quiet about his views. You can read his 2020 speech to the Federalist Society, where he aired a series of grievances against the court’s critics and ideological foes, mostly centered around religious liberty…
“Or his remarks two years later on religious liberty at a University of Notre Dame event in Rome, where he lamented the increasingly secular turn in Western countries… The edited recordings do not reveal anything particularly dramatic.”
Matt Ford, New Republic
Others argue, “In one sense, this is no surprise… Still, it should shock us to hear him lay out his worldview so bluntly. It shows an utter lack of regard for the court’s delicate posture of neutrality in the constitutional system and American society. For a long time, Alito seemed like an outlier on the court, lobbing his sour, grievance-filled dissents from the sidelines. He is now ascendant…
“He is also in good company in the upper reaches of government. Recall that House Speaker Mike Johnson, an evangelical Christian, told an interviewer after he got the job, ‘Go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That’s my worldview.’ Perhaps we should be grateful that these aspiring theocrats have fully ripped off the mask.”
Jesse Wegman, New York Times
"The thing is, despite Justice Alito’s dark view of polarization in the United States, we—secular liberals and progressives—can live with them. Let Martha-Ann Alito fly whatever flag she wants on her property, while LGBTQ people can fly the Pride flag. Sure, we’d like to change their minds on a few issues, but if we can’t, we’ll mostly leave them alone…
“Are you an anti-abortion Catholic, as the Alitos are? That’s fine; I have relatives who feel that way. The issue is simple: Don’t have an abortion. Opposed to same-sex marriage? Then don’t marry a person of your own sex. It’s the Christian nationalists who want to impose their values on us—and do it with cruelty, if you listen to the wrathful Martha-Ann Alito. As her husband put it: ‘One side or the other is going to win.’ And they are doing everything in their power, from the Supreme Court to state legislatures to school boards, to make sure it’s their side.”
Joan Walsh, The Nation
The right argues that the recording indicates nothing new or problematic.
The right argues that the recording indicates nothing new or problematic.
“All that emerges from this story is that Justice Alito knows his constitutional role and carries it out with grace under tremendous fire… As a matter of constitutional design, Alito is exactly right: In America, the people rule through their institutions. As for what’s above the pay grade of a Supreme Court Justice, that includes God’s job of dispensing the divine grace that would make the country more godly…
“A second recording, of Justice Alito and his wife, rather humorously confirmed exactly what Alito has said about the flag controversies ginned up by the New York Times. All it revealed is that Mrs. Alito is a passionate Catholic who indeed loves to display messages through flags and that Mr. Alito, for the sake of appearances, tries to limit this.”
The Editors, National Review
“[Windsor] asks Justice Alito a series of leading questions, to which he responds politely, expressing anodyne views such as this: ‘American citizens in general need to work on this, to try to heal this polarization, because it’s very dangerous. I do believe it’s very dangerous.’…
“[He later adds] ‘We have a very defined role. We need to do what we’re supposed to do, but this is a bigger problem. This is way above us. So I wish I knew the answer. I do.’ That’s the only discussion of jurisprudence in the 6½-minute recording…
“The Rolling Stone article, which runs more than 1,800 words, makes no mention of it. ‘Alito’s comments add to the controversy surrounding the conservative justice,’ the magazine asserts, before rehearsing other recent attacks on him. But there’s no actual controversy, only a partisan pile-on.”
James Taranto, Wall Street Journal
“A religious man agreeing that Godliness is a worthy value? Cue the woke pearl-clutching. From the tape, it’s pretty obvious that the justice is just trying to gently disengage from an obsessive; he never breathes a word about the government enforcing religious ideals, let alone of letting his faith sway his jurisprudence…
“But that didn’t stop The New York Times from running not just a report on Windsor’s ‘findings’ but also a column headlined ‘Alito no longer tries to hide his theocratic worldview,’ though he uttered not a ‘theocratic’ word in the exchange and has spoken openly of his faith for decades now…
“America is a more secular nation than ever, with vastly less public ‘God talk’ than in the past; Lauren Windsor might have a heart attack if she reviewed the speeches of Abraham Lincoln… All the recordings really tell us about Alito is that he tries to be courteous when chatting with strangers.”
Editorial Board, New York Post
