Samuel Alito Quotes
1950-04-01
More Samuel Alito Quotes
The First Amendment, I think, is the jewel of our Constitution.
Samuel Alito— Alito: Threat to Judicial Independence at Historic High, by Michael Scholl (2006-10-04)
I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government has argued in the Supreme Court that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.
Samuel Alito— Application to become deputy assistant AG, 1985 [1]
In order to have a society in which public issues can be openly and vigorously debated, it is not necessary to allow the brutalization of innocent victims[.]
Samuel Alito— Dissenting, Snyder v. Phelps, 131 S. Ct. 1207, 1229 (2011)
Your record raises troubling questions about whether you appreciate the checks and balances in our Constitution -- the careful efforts of our Founding Fathers to protect us from a government or a president determined to seize too much power over our lives.
Samuel Alito— Sen. Dick Durbin, (D-ILL) at Alito's confirmation hearing.
You have obviously had a very distinguished record, and I certainly commend you for long service in the public interest. I think it is a very commendable career and I am sure you will have a successful one as a judge.
Samuel Alito— Sen. Ted Kennedy, speaking on Alito's nomination to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Committee On The Judiciary, U.S. Senate, Hearing, 1990-04-05
I believe Mr. Alito has the experience and the skills to be the kind of judge the public deserves – one who is impartial, thoughtful, and fair. I urge the Senate to confirm his nomination.
Samuel Alito— Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), speaking on Alito's nomination to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, Congressional Record, 1990-04-27, p. S5281
There was the abortion brief and also the brief in the Wygant case. I had a big hand in writing it, and so did Sam Alito, who had this marvelous phrase saying that a particular African American baseball player would not have served as a great role model if the fences had been pulled in every time he was up at bat, a point which some people were greatly offended by because they thought it to be pamphleteering. I thought it was entirely appropriate.
Samuel Alito— Charles Fried (Solicitor General 1985 to 1989) in 2003.
Of course he's against abortion.
Samuel Alito— Rose Alito, Samuel Alito's 90-year-old mother in an Associated Press telephone interview from her Hamilton, N.J., home. [2]
There's an outside chance that Roberts might assign [the opinion] to Alito, but, you know, [it's] Alito's second year on the Court; he should still do the tax and ERISA cases for a few more years. I think this case is too intersting for him.
Samuel Alito— Georgetown University law professor Richard Lazarus, in a panel discussion on Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, C-SPAN2, 2006-11-29 (at approx. 60:00)
— The panel, held a few hours after oral argument, was asked which justice would write the controlling opinion when the case was decided.
Our country as a whole, no less than the Hastings College of Law, values tolerance, cooperation, learning, and the amicable resolution of conflicts. But we seek to achieve those goals through "[a] confident pluralism that conduces to civil peace and advances democratic consensus-building," not by abridging First Amendment rights.
Samuel Alito— Dissenting, CLS v. Martinez, 130 S. Ct. 2971, 3015-16 (2010).
