SAMUEL ALITO
Name: Samuel Anthony Alito
Born April 1, 1950 Trenton, New Jersey
Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr. (born April 1, 1950) is an Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States. Educated at Princeton University and Yale
Law School, Alito served as a United States attorney and a judge on the United
States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit prior to joining the Supreme Court.
He is generally considered a conservative jurist and since becoming a member of
the Supreme Court he has often voted with conservative members of the court. He
is the 110th justice and the second Italian-American on the Supreme Court.
Alito was born in Trenton, New Jersey, to Italian American parents: Samuel A.
Alito, Sr., and the former Rose Fradusco. He is a Roman Catholic. Alito
grew up in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, a suburb of Trenton. He attended
Steinert High School in Hamilton Township and graduated from Princeton
University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs with a
Bachelor of Arts in 1972 before attending Yale Law School, where he served as
editor on the Yale Law Journal and earned a Juris Doctor in 1975.
Alito's father, now deceased, was a high school teacher and then became the
first Director of the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services, a position he
held from 1952 to 1984. Alito's mother is a retired schoolteacher. Alito's
sister Rosemary is regarded as one of New Jersey's top employment lawyers.
At Princeton, Alito led a student conference in 1971 called "The Boundaries of
Privacy in American Society" which, among other things, supported curbs on
domestic intelligence gathering, called for the legalization of sodomy, and
urged for an end to discrimination against homosexuals in hiring by employers.
Alito was a member of the Concerned Alumni of Princeton, which was formed in
October 1972 at least in part to oppose Princeton's decisions regarding
affirmative action. Apart from Alito's written 1985 statement of membership of
CAP on a job application, which Alito says was truthful, there is no other
documentation of Alito's involvement with or contributions in the group. Alito
has cited the banning and subsequent treatment of ROTC by the university as his
reason for belonging to CAP.
Standing in front of a portrait of former President Bill Clinton, Martha Alito (right),
daughter Laura (left) and son Philip (center) look on as President Bush
announces Samuel Alito's nomination on October 31, 2005
While a sophomore at Princeton, Alito received the (low) lottery number of 32,
in a Selective Service drawing on December 1, 1969. In 1970, he became a member
of the school's Army ROTC program, attending a six-week basic summer camp that
year at Fort Knox, Kentucky, in lieu of having been in ROTC during his first two
years in college. Graduating in 1972, Alito left a sign of his lofty aspirations
in his yearbook, which said that he hoped to "eventually warm a seat on the
Supreme Court."
He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Signal Corps after
his graduation and assigned to the United States Army Reserve. Following his
graduation from Yale Law School in 1975, he served on active duty from September
to December 1975, while attending the Officer Basic Course for Signal Corps
officers at Fort Gordon, Georgia. The remainder of his time in the Army was
served in the inactive Reserves. He had the rank of Captain when he received an
Honorable Discharge in 1980.
Since 1985, Alito has been married to Martha-Ann Alito (born Martha-Ann
Bomgardner), once a law librarian with family roots in Oklahoma. They have two
college age children: Philip and Laura. Alito resided with his family in West
Caldwell, New Jersey before his Supreme Court nomination. He has since moved
to a home in Washington.
Name: Samuel Anthony Alito
Born April 1, 1950 Trenton, New Jersey
Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr. (born April 1, 1950) is an Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States. Educated at Princeton University and Yale
Law School, Alito served as a United States attorney and a judge on the United
States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit prior to joining the Supreme Court.
He is generally considered a conservative jurist and since becoming a member of
the Supreme Court he has often voted with conservative members of the court. He
is the 110th justice and the second Italian-American on the Supreme Court.
Alito was born in Trenton, New Jersey, to Italian American parents: Samuel A.
Alito, Sr., and the former Rose Fradusco. He is a Roman Catholic. Alito
grew up in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, a suburb of Trenton. He attended
Steinert High School in Hamilton Township and graduated from Princeton
University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs with a
Bachelor of Arts in 1972 before attending Yale Law School, where he served as
editor on the Yale Law Journal and earned a Juris Doctor in 1975.
Alito's father, now deceased, was a high school teacher and then became the
first Director of the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services, a position he
held from 1952 to 1984. Alito's mother is a retired schoolteacher. Alito's
sister Rosemary is regarded as one of New Jersey's top employment lawyers.
At Princeton, Alito led a student conference in 1971 called "The Boundaries of
Privacy in American Society" which, among other things, supported curbs on
domestic intelligence gathering, called for the legalization of sodomy, and
urged for an end to discrimination against homosexuals in hiring by employers.
Alito was a member of the Concerned Alumni of Princeton, which was formed in
October 1972 at least in part to oppose Princeton's decisions regarding
affirmative action. Apart from Alito's written 1985 statement of membership of
CAP on a job application, which Alito says was truthful, there is no other
documentation of Alito's involvement with or contributions in the group. Alito
has cited the banning and subsequent treatment of ROTC by the university as his
reason for belonging to CAP.
Standing in front of a portrait of former President Bill Clinton, Martha Alito (right),
daughter Laura (left) and son Philip (center) look on as President Bush
announces Samuel Alito's nomination on October 31, 2005
While a sophomore at Princeton, Alito received the (low) lottery number of 32,
in a Selective Service drawing on December 1, 1969. In 1970, he became a member
of the school's Army ROTC program, attending a six-week basic summer camp that
year at Fort Knox, Kentucky, in lieu of having been in ROTC during his first two
years in college. Graduating in 1972, Alito left a sign of his lofty aspirations
in his yearbook, which said that he hoped to "eventually warm a seat on the
Supreme Court."
He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Signal Corps after
his graduation and assigned to the United States Army Reserve. Following his
graduation from Yale Law School in 1975, he served on active duty from September
to December 1975, while attending the Officer Basic Course for Signal Corps
officers at Fort Gordon, Georgia. The remainder of his time in the Army was
served in the inactive Reserves. He had the rank of Captain when he received an
Honorable Discharge in 1980.
Since 1985, Alito has been married to Martha-Ann Alito (born Martha-Ann
Bomgardner), once a law librarian with family roots in Oklahoma. They have two
college age children: Philip and Laura. Alito resided with his family in West
Caldwell, New Jersey before his Supreme Court nomination. He has since moved
to a home in Washington.