In southern Italy, where my grandparents had lived, there were few opportunities. The society was static, with rigid social classes. Poor people, like my grandparents, had little chance to improve their lives, no matter their talents or willingness to work.

Samuel Alito

Categorized in : Opportunity Class Southern Italy

I think that Congress's ability to reason is fully equal to that of the judiciary.

Samuel Alito

congress reason thinking

The most important quality for a judge is open- mindedness to the arguments.

Samuel Alito

quality important judging

When I became a judge, I stopped being a practicing attorney. And that was a big change in role.The role of a practicing attorney is to achieve a desirable result for the client in the particular case at hand. But a judge can't think that way. A judge can't have any agenda, a judge can't have any preferred outcome in any particular case and a judge certainly doesn't have a client.

Samuel Alito

judging hands thinking

The First Amendment, I think, is the jewel of our Constitution.

Samuel Alito

jewels firsts thinking

Good judges develop certain habits of mind. One of those habits of mind is the habit of delaying reaching conclusions until everything has been considered.

Samuel Alito

habit judging mind

If you want know what sort of a justice I would make, then look at what sort of a judge I have been.

Samuel Alito

judging justice looks

I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government has argued in the Supreme Court that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.

Samuel Alito

abortion government doe

I think that the legitimacy of the court would be undermined in any case if the court made a decision based on its perception of public opinion.

Samuel Alito

perception decision thinking

I assume that those who cling to old beliefs will be able to whisper their thoughts in the recesses of their homes, but if they repeat those views in public, they will risk being labeled as bigots and treated as such by governments, employers, and schools.

Samuel Alito

government home school

I think that what my parents taught me about hard work, optimism and education still holds true.

Samuel Alito

optimism hard-work thinking

When I was sworn in as a judge of the court of appeals, I took an oath. I put my hand on the Bible and I swore that I would administer justice without respect to persons, that I would do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I would carry out my duties under the Constitution and the laws of the United States.

Samuel Alito

law justice hands

In an era where the White House is abusing power, is excusing and authorizing torture and is spying on American citizens, I find Judge [Samuel] Alito's support for an all-powerful executive branch to be genuinely troubling.

Samuel Alito

powerful judging white

Our country as a whole, no less than the Hastings College of Law, values tolerance, cooperation, learning, and the amicable resolution of conflicts. But we seek to achieve those goals through "[a] confident pluralism that conduces to civil peace and advances democratic consensus-building," not by abridging First Amendment rights.

Samuel Alito

college rights country

In order to have a society in which public issues can be openly and vigorously debated, it is not necessary to allow the brutalization of innocent victims.

Samuel Alito

innocent issues order

When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account.

Samuel Alito

discrimination people thinking

When I entered college, I thought that I wanted to be a lawyer, but by the time I was set to graduate, I was not too sure of that.

Samuel Alito

graduates lawyer college

When I was growing up, we always had a big family dinner at around noon on Sunday. I still love that whenever it is possible to gather the family together.

Samuel Alito

growing-up sunday together

One of the most solemn responsibilities of the president and it's set out expressly in the Constitution is that the president is to take care that the laws are faithfully executed, and that means the Constitution. It means statutes. It means treaties. It means all of the laws of the United States.

Samuel Alito

responsibility law mean

Private religious speech can't be discriminated against. It has to be treated equally with secular speech.

Samuel Alito

equality speech religious

I'm not any kind of a bigot, I'm not...

Samuel Alito

racist bigots kind