How Conservative Has the U.S. Judiciary Become?

FEATURING LENA ZWARENSTEYN – Conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito made remarks to the Federalist Society last week that were brazenly partisan and shocked legal observers. Among the controversial statements he made was that the conservative organization that invited him faced, “harassment and retaliation for saying anything that departs from the law school orthodoxy.” The Federalist Society is notorious for feeding extremist rightwing homophobic, antiabortion, anti-worker or anti-immigrant judges to Republicans for court appointments.

Alito also denounced the fact that Christian churches were forced to abide by the same shelter-in-place orders that everyone else did. And, he made these regressive remarks about same-sex marriage.  One commentator called the speech a “Judicial equivalent of a Trump rally.” Alito has fueled a growing concern that the nation’s highest court is deeply biased.

Lena Zwarensteyn, Fair Courts Campaign Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.