Courting controversy: Alito on religion, racism and big Supreme Court moments

Courting controversy: Alito on religion, racism and major Supreme Court moments.

Key points

• In a new book – "So Ordered: An Originalist's View of the Constitution, the Court, and Our Country, " published Oct.
• Thousands marched in Washington, DC in defense of voting rights after the Supreme Court weakened a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.
• Over recent years, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has authored major – and controversial – opinions on those hot button problems.
• In response, Alito suggested decisions like the 2025 decision he authored in favor of parents who want to avoid LGBTQ+ storybooks in public schools are not contrarian.
• The conservative majority sided with non-Black voters who challenged Louisiana's congressional map as relying too heavily on race to sort voters.

Courting controversy: Alito on religion, racism and major Supreme Court moments. Maureen Groppe USA TODAY. Thousands march in Washington, leaders warn of voting rights rollbacks.

Thousands marched in Washington, DC in defense of voting rights after the Supreme Court weakened a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. WASHINGTON – Abortion. Religious freedom. Voting rights.

In a new book – "So Ordered: An Originalist's View of the Constitution, the Court, and Our Country, " published Oct. 6 by Basic Liberty – the conservative jurist explains his approach to the law.

He additionally answered written questions from USA TODAY concerning his views and some of his decisions.

In April, Alito wrote the court's 6-3 ruling that curtailed a key provision of a landmark civil rights law enacted six decades ago to prevent racial discrimination in voting. The conservative majority sided with non-Black voters who challenged Louisiana's congressional map as relying too heavily on race to sort voters. More: Justice Alito 'amused and puzzled' by false retirement report.

In his new book, Alito wrote that the court has finally corrected course on past decisions that "taught that discrimination based on race or ethnicity is proper if it serves supposedly beneficent purposes."

As Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in the admissions case, "gulf-sized race-based gaps with respect to the health, wealth, and well-being of American citizens.", critics say the court's decisions that scaled back the Voting Rights Act and, in 2023, ending the employ of race-conscious admissions at universities ignore.

Asked how much discrimination against racial minorities still exists, Alito called that an "empirical question that I am in no position to answer."

"Federal law broadly prohibits racial discrimination, and it is the responsibility of the Supreme Court and other federal courts to enforce those laws in the cases that come before them regardless of whether those cases are representative of widespread practice or involve relatively isolated instances of illegal behavior, " he remarked. "In either situation, our duty is the same: enforce the law."

In practice, a number of chapters of Alito's book focus on the freedom of religion, including his concern that backing for religious liberty has cratered. Does that mean that the court's frequent rulings in favor of religious rights are out of step with the public?

"Do the American people believe that very young elementary school students should be forced, contrary to the wishes and religious beliefs of their parents, to be read books that favor medical procedures that alter a child's gender?" he asked.

More: Supreme Court sides with religious parents who want to avoid LGBTQ+ books in public schools.

After Alito authored the court's 2014 opinion that firms cannot be forced to offer insurance coverage for certain birth control methods they equate with abortion, Harvard Law professor Noah Feldman wrote that religious exemptions from generally applicable, neutral laws have long been a "pet issue, " for Alito.

In his new book, Alito notes he took that as a compliment.

"I have welcomed the opportunity to author many opinions on religious liberty and to speak on the subject because religious liberty is critically important for our society, " he wrote.

Asked by USA TODAY what role his own faith plays in his approach to the law, Alito – who is Catholic – remarked his faith "commands me to be true to the oath that I took when I was appointed, and in that oath I promised to 'well and faithfully discharge the duties' assigned under the Constitution."

"That means both that I may not shirk from performing those duties and also that I may not arrogate authority that the Constitution does not confer, " he remarked. "I could not have taken that oath if I did not believe from the bottom of my heart that our country has a good Constitution that does not require me to do anything that is morally wrong." Share your feedback to support improve our site!

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