Four of the five US supreme court justices who overturned the constitutional right to abortion in America showed up at the ultra-conservative Federalist Society’s black-tie dinner marking its 40th anniversary.
Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the opinion in the shock decision, got a long, loud ovation at the event on Thursday night from a crowd of 2,000 people, most in tuxedos and gowns, when another speaker praised him on the overturning of Roe v Wade in June.
Such a decision was long a target of judicial conservatives and the anti-abortion movement had been undermining rights across many US states for decades after the original Roe decision, in 1973, ushered in the era of federal protection for abortion rights.
At a moment when opinion surveys show that Americans think the court is becoming more political and give it dismal approval ratings, the justices turned out to celebrate the group that helped Donald Trump and Senate Republicans move the American judiciary, including the supreme court, firmly to the right.
The Federalist Society has no partisan affiliation and takes no position in election campaigns, but it is closely aligned with Republican priorities, including the drive to overturn Roe.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Alito offered brief remarks that steered well clear of the court’s work, though Alito praised the Federalist Society for its success in the Trump years and hoped it would continue. “Boy, is your work needed today,” he said.
Barrett’s only allusion to the abortion case came when she responded to the crowd’s roar of approval when she was introduced. “It’s really nice to have a lot of noise made not by protesters outside my house,” she said, referring to the protests in the spring between the time the draft opinion of the court was leaked and the final decision.
Amid heavy security, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh also were in attendance in the main hall at Washington’s Union Station, where the silhouette of James Madison, the group’s logo, was projected on the walls. Justice Clarence Thomas, the other member of the abortion case majority, was not at the dinner.
Norm Eisen, an ethics expert who served in the Obama administration and helped draft the articles of impeachment against Trump for his first impeachment in 2019, said the justices had shown a brazen disregard for ethical appearances, because the organization’s mission is to move the law in a conservative direction.
“While there is no legal obstacle to them showing up at the Federalist Society dinner, the appearances are awful,” Eisen wrote in an email.
Abortion protections were on the ballot in referendum questions in a number of states during the midterm elections earlier this week.
Chief Justice John Roberts in June joined neither the opinion nor the dissent of the three liberal-leaning justices in the bombshell Roe decision.
After Donald Trump filled the seat left by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020 with Amy Coney Barrett, the court achieved a conservative super-majority.
