Samuel Anthony Alito Jr., born on April 1, 1950, in Trenton, New Jersey, is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on October 31, 2005, and took his seat on the court on January 31, 2006, following the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Early Life and Education: Alito grew up in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, where his father, Samuel A. Alito Sr., was the Director of Research and Planning for the New Jersey Legislature, and his mother, Rose Alito, was a schoolteacher. Alito attended Steinert High School in Hamilton, where he excelled academically and graduated as the class valedictorian in 1968. He then enrolled at Princeton University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1972, graduating summa cum laude. During his time at Princeton, Alito was a member of the Concerned Alumni of Princeton, a conservative group that opposed affirmative action and the admission of women to the university. After completing his undergraduate studies, Alito attended Yale Law School, where he served as the editor of the Yale Law Journal. He graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 1975. Legal Career: Following his graduation from law school, Alito clerked for Judge Leonard I. Garth of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1976 to 1977. He then worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 1977 to 1981. In 1981, Alito joined the Reagan administration as an Assistant to the Solicitor General, where he argued 12 cases before the Supreme Court. He later served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel from 1985 to 1987. In 1987, President Reagan nominated Alito to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He was confirmed by the Senate on April 27, 1990, and served on the Third Circuit until his elevation to the Supreme Court in 2006. Supreme Court Tenure: Since joining the Supreme Court, Alito has been known for his conservative jurisprudence and has often sided with the court's conservative bloc. He has been a strong advocate for originalism, the legal theory that the Constitution should be interpreted according to its original meaning at the time it was ratified. Alito has authored several notable opinions, including the majority opinion in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2014), which held that closely held for-profit corporations could be exempt from regulations that their owners religiously object to if there is a less restrictive means of furthering the law's interest. He also wrote the majority opinion in Janus v. AFSCME (2018), which ruled that public sector unions cannot require non-members to pay agency fees, dealing a significant blow to organized labor. Alito has been a consistent dissenter in cases involving LGBTQ+ rights, including Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, and Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), which held that Title VII of the Civil
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