Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Denounces Justice Alito’s Hyper-Partisan, Ideological Speech to the Federalist Society
For Immediate Release: Friday, November 13, 2020
Contact: [email protected]
Washington, DC — Last night, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito gave the keynote speech to the right-wing organization, the Federalist Society, shattering any notions of impartiality long expected of a Supreme Court justice. In response, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue released the following statement:
“This speech by Justice Alito to the Federalist Society was beyond the pale. His loyalty to the extreme right-wing has never been more clear. Now that he’s part of a 6-3 Trump supermajority on the Supreme Court, he seems further emboldened to vilify the freedoms we hold dear. We must continue to call out these ideological attacks for what they are: further evidence of the crumbling legitimacy of the Court.”
Ilyse Hogue and NARAL Research Director Ellie Langford recently co-authored, The Lie That Binds, a book chronicling how the formerly non-political, back-burner issue of abortion rights was co-opted by the Radical Right as political cover for a movement hell-bent on maintaining white patriarchy. Abortion became the political tool of choice for a movement determined to maintain control in a changing world but losing public opinion on racist policies like school segregation. As part of that, the Radical Right figured out that hostility to abortion rights was a reliable proxy for antipathy to broader social progress. The Federalist Society then deployed that litmus test for judicial nominee after nominee, coordinating with Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell to stack the federal judiciary with judges hostile to Roe v. Wade and abortion access as well as a wide range of other rights and freedoms.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates and chapters have fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom—including access to abortion, contraception, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its more than 2.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 7 in 10 Americans who believe every person should have the freedom to make the best decision for themselves about if, when, and how to raise a family.