BADGE OF HONOR

Trumpy Justice Brags About Overturning Roe v. Wade

Justice Samuel Alito said the Dobbs decision required “courage.”

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito says he lost friends over his choice to help overturn the federal constitutional right to abortion.

Discussing the court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, he said the majority justices were courageous.

“I think that required courage by all of the justices in the majority,” he told CBS News’ chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford.

“We didn’t know it at the time, we didn’t know it when we produced the draft that was leaked, but it required courage to go ahead with that, because of the implications,” Alito said.

In the spring of 2022, a draft of the Dobbs decision was leaked to the media, sparking massive backlash against the justices who joined the majority. Alito was the author of the majority opinion.

“You’re going to get protested. You’re going to have death threats. You’re going to have to wear a bulletproof vest... It’s part of the job that you’re going to displease people by making decisions on controversial matters because one side or the other is going to really dislike you because of the decisions.”

SUPREMELY DISAPPOINTED

Trump Unravels at His Own SCOTUS Justices Voting Against Him

Farrah Tomazin

He said he lost friends over Dobbs, and that “that was something that you have to live with.”

Alito, 76, was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2006 by President George W. Bush.

During Donald Trump’s first term as president, he appointed three more conservative justices to the court.

Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett joined Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Chief Justice John Roberts, giving the court a 6-3 conservative majority.

Ultimately, overturning Roe v. Wade required all three.

The three Trump appointees joined Alito, Thomas, and Roberts in the court’s 6-3 conservative majority, though Roberts did not join the decision to overrule Roe; he concurred only in the judgment.

The push to reshape the federal judiciary with conservative judges who might overturn the landmark 1973 decision began before Trump was elected.

PARADISE LOST

Chief Justice’s Island Escape Turns Into a Nightmare

Ewan Palmer

In 2016, the Republican-controlled Senate blocked the confirmation of then-president Barack Obama’s chosen nominee, Merrick Garland, for 293 days after the death of conservative Justice Anton Scalia.

The decision was orchestrated by then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Trump was then elected and able to appoint his preferred nominee.

Since retaking office in 2025, Trump has taken a confrontational approach to the court, often criticizing the justices if a ruling doesn’t go how he wants.

Asked in the interview, which will air in full on Monday night, about Trump’s interventions, Alito first claimed to have received “very harsh” criticism from Joe Biden, who was president when the Dobbs ruling was handed down.

“The criticism of the court by President Biden and the justices by President Biden and his administration was very harsh,” he said, before agreeing that Trump, too, had been “very harsh.”

Alito added that he is not part of the president’s MAGA movement.

“We [the justices] are not part of any political movement,” he said. “And we are not attempting to further any political agenda. We are trying to interpret the Constitution as best we can and apply it.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Sarah-Jane CollinsReporter

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.