A Night Out with the Alitos
The recordings of Justice Alito and his wife Martha are yet another reminder that America needs to hold the #SCOTUSsix accountable.
Americans have learned a lot about Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito this week:
His worldview is solidly aligned with Christian Nationalism and MAGA Republicans, and he was comfortable spouting his ideology to a complete stranger at a fundraising event.
He dislikes ProPublica’s reporting on his and his fellow Justices' blatant corruption.
His wife Martha offered her unhinged rant to a stranger, and her own rhetoric, ideology, and fantasies about flags (really) made Ginni Thomas seem reasonable by comparison.
All these startling revelations from the Alitos came courtesy of filmmaker Lauren Windsor, who infiltrated a fundraising dinner for the Supreme Court Historical Society and conversed with both Martha and Samuel while secretly recording them. Windsor was posing as a conservative Catholic activist and primed them with leading questions and flattery, but even so, their candor makes for a shocking listen on the recordings. I would expect politics to come up at that kind of event, but most public figures and their spouses have enough sense not to say things like “One side or the other is going to win,” or rant about how much distress having to look at a Pride flag in their neighborhood causes them.
Windsor also got Chief Justice John Roberts on tape but didn’t manage to trip him up in the same way. Roberts, another right-wing Justice, sides with Alito on most decisions but is smart enough to avoid this kind of controversy should what he says be overheard or recorded. Despite the fact that Roberts has done just as much damage as Alito, he came off looking good by comparison.
Much as I’ve enjoyed ProPublica’s continued reporting on Clarence Thomas (two new scoops dropped as I was writing this piece.) I’ve found the Alito tapes particularly amusing. My view of Alito has always been that he sees himself as a smart operative and brilliant strategist based on his actions. Alito leaked at least one decision before it was official, and some believe he was responsible for the Dobbs draft leak as well. Alito penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal attacking ProPublica and accusing them of misleading readers in a story about a fishing trip he’d accepted from a billionaire that hadn’t yet been published.
Alito’s political instincts were always terrible, but they didn’t matter much. Especially as Clarence Thomas’s blatant corruption was a more enticing target. Thomas’ wife Ginni, and questions around her involvement in Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election were also far more interesting than the gossip about Martha Alito’s feud with her liberal neighbors. But the Alitos managed to put the spotlight firmly on themselves with one conversation at a fundraiser, a place where most public officials would show basic caution in their conversations. A double self-own from the Alitos.
I want to re-up a newsletter from earlier this year where I encouraged Democrats, especially outside groups, to run against the #SCOTUSsix majority of MAGA Justices. The Alitos, along with ProPublica, have given you all the opposition research you need. And given voters’ anger over abortion and how reproductive healthcare turns out the vote, it’s easy to remind them who the villains are and what political party put these Justices on the bench. When I wrote about this earlier this year, the polling clearly showed that voters don’t hold the court in high regard and blame it for the erosion of their rights. My guess is that over the next month, we’ll see more polls showing a similar sentiment.
Elected officials also need to step up to the plate and put more pressure on the court. In the House, Reps Jamie Raskin and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have introduced ethics legislation, but we need to see more action from the White House and Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin. Americans comprehend the corruption we’re seeing in plain sight. We need to see elected officials respond to it in kind.
The #SCOTUSsix seem to believe that they’re untouchable and that the rules shouldn’t apply to them. As I wrote last week, these right-wing Justices are political operatives unafraid to wield their power at everyone else’s expense. They happily take our rights away while enriching themselves without fear of consequences. It’s long past time for that dynamic to change.
ICYMI
Holocaust Denier Nick Fuentes Tells His Followers to Join Project 2025 (Media Matters)
In the early days of the alt-right, you had organizations like Identity Evropa encouraging their followers to infiltrate and take over the Republican party. Fuentes encouraging his followers to continue their political involvement and become involved in supporting plans for a potential second Trump Administration is chilling but not terribly surprising. Especially given how much success the far-right had with taking over the GOP in the first place.
Google’s and Microsoft’s AI Chatbots Refuse to Say Who Won the 2020 US Election (Wired)
My first reaction to this is amusement that even AI chatbots don’t want to deal with backlash from denialists. But the ramifications of this aren’t great. And given how optimized search already is to our own interests, redirecting election denialists to search won’t help matters.
Abortion Groups Say Tech Companies Suppress Posts and Accounts (New York Times)
The anti-choice movement relies on disinformation about reproductive health to survive. It’s unfortunate that the tech platforms enable this, in part by making it more difficult for advocates and healthcare providers to make good information available online. This report from Amnesty International USA offers some policy suggestions should the tech platforms actually decide to help those seeking accurate information.
After Jan. 6, Twitter Banned 70,000 Right-Wing Accounts. Lies Plummeted. (Washington Post)
Deplatforming works. Who knew? All the tech platforms did of course but they still backtracked on their decisions. Elon Musk also knew which is why he purchased Twitter and set all his favorite far-right actors back on the platform.
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Coda
One of my favorite podcasts, Rachel Maddow’s Ultra, which covers the history of America’s fascist movements, is back for a second season. Maddow does a phenomenal job of making the content accessible and exploring the parallels to this current moment in American politics and culture. I highly recommend it and Prequel, Maddow’s book on the same topic.
Thanks so much to everyone who has signed up as a paying subscriber. Your support enables me to put even more time and resources into making the newsletter the best it can be week after week.
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I want to wish a belated Happy Pride to all of my readers in the LGBTQ+ community. I know these are dark times for y’all, especially for children and youth in the community, but I hope you find joy and solidarity this month as you gather and celebrate. CARD stands with you in solidarity always.
That’s all for now. I’ll see you next Sunday!
I keep trying to come up with a comment that focuses on this post, but I keep spiraling on how bad America's bigger picture is. I think we can probably win the electoral college, but I'm skeptical we can achieve the substantial blue wave we need to really address all the attacks on this American experiment
The topics/content of this article are good but it’s pretty clear that either a better editor (or a grammar-smart AI assist) is sorely needed. Too funny in an era when AI is being bantied as both the future bane AND panacea to our woes. We most certainly do live in an era where contradiction rules and two things can be true at once.