MSNBC host Joy Reid on Monday criticized Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who has faced multiple ethics controversies over potential bias and political affiliation, slamming the judge as an obvious conservative.
“We know that Justice Alito is essentially the Fox anchor of the court,” Reid said of the judge, adding that the justice makes little attempt to hide his political beliefs.
“He doesn’t care if anybody knows that he wants this country to be a Christian nation, a nation-state, or what he’s trying to create with this ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ vision,” she continued.
In a secret recording made public on Monday, Justice Alito told a woman who appears to be a Catholic conservative that he agreed with her that there was no way to negotiate with liberals and that the court must be used to “win” for conservative ideals.
“One side will win. I don’t know. I mean, maybe there’s a way to live peacefully together — to work together — but it’s difficult, because there are fundamental differences that really can’t be compromised. They really can’t be compromised. So there’s no middle ground to be found.”
The remarks were made public by progressive filmmaker Lauren Windsor at the Supreme Court Historical Association’s Annual Dinner On June 3, she attended the event under her real name as a member of the association, but posed as a conservative to elicit responses from the judges. Featured in Rolling Stone magazine and Windsor-based activist site The Undercurrent.
The recording comes days after additional scrutiny was launched into gifts received by Justice Alito and other justices during their time on the Supreme Court. According to data released Thursday, Justice Alito has received about $140,000 in gifts since 2004, the third-highest amount among current and former justices in that period.
Justice Clarence Thomas received more than $4 million in contributions during the same period, many times more than all other justices combined.
Alito sparked controversy last month when his home was found to have an “Appeal to Heaven” flag and an upside-down American flag hanging – symbols associated with far-right politics, Christian nationalism and those who took part in the January 6 storming of the Capitol.
Justice Alito said the flag was not a political statement and that his wife was merely making a personal attack on the neighbor, who openly doubted his story. The controversy drew widespread criticism from Democrats in Congress, with several prominent lawmakers calling on the justices to recuse themselves from cases related to the January 6 attack.
His wife, Martha Ann Alito, told the same closeted liberal activists at a historical society event that she wanted to get revenge on those who criticized her and the justice over raising the flag.
“If they come after me, I’ll give it back to them,” she said in a recording released by MSNBC on Monday. “There will be a way. It doesn’t have to be now, but there will be a way for them to find out,” she added.
In the recording, Martha Ann Alito also promised to fly the “Sacred Heart of Jesus” flag, a Christian right symbol specifically used to protest pride, in her home this month in protest of the LGBTQ Pride flag flying near her home.
Justice Alito has repeatedly defended himself against allegations that he is ethically flawed, and Chief Justice John Roberts has refused to hold a conference on the allegations.
Reid also predicted Monday that Justice Alito and the current Supreme Court could next tackle the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision in 2022, following Justice Alito’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on abortion rights.
“If you go back and read some of the things Alito has said in the past, he’s criticized the Warren Court,” Reid said, “the court that gave us civil rights in the 20th century, gave us rights for women, gave us rights for people of color, gave us rights for immigrants, gave us rights for everything, gave us rights for people with disabilities.”
“Clarence Thomas question “Maybe Brown v. Board of Education went too far,” she added, referring to a commentary Thomas wrote as part of another ruling. “This is just saying we’re going to sue to overturn Brown v. Board of Education.”
