Four Supreme Court justices who voted to strike down Roe v. Wade joined the Federalist Society Thursday night as the conservative legal group celebrated its 40th anniversary and applauded the high court’s June decision.
Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the court’s majority decision that overturned Roe, did not directly refer to the decision during his remarks at the black-tie dinner in Washington, DC. However, he received a standing ovation from the audience when former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman invoked the decision.
“You know, I’ve heard some say in recent months that the Dobbs decision will forever be an indelible part of Justice Alito’s legacy,” Markman said.
Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh were also in attendance, as was Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who also made remarks during the dinner, which the group hosted in honor of the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. Also present was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The Federalist Society was founded in 1982 by conservative students and faculty, some of whom believed in originalism, a philosophy tied to the 18th-century view of the framers of the Constitution. The team’s imprint on the Supreme Court is significant and arguably unrivaled: Every single one of today’s Republican appointees, including Chief Justice John Roberts, has been vetted in some way by the Federalist Society working with their respective GOP administrations. The three Trump appointees were chosen more directly from the powerful of the Federal Society.
For his part, McConnell, when he was the Senate majority leader, was a critical partner of the Feds in selecting judicial nominees and confirming them, especially during the Trump administration.
Alito spoke fondly of the legal team during Thursday’s dinner, recalling the time he spent dining with the Federal Corporation’s D.C. chapter at a Chinese restaurant in the city. He brought along a fortune cookie that he said he kept from this very restaurant.
“I’ll open it and read the fortune. I hope it tells us something about, I hope it foreshadows the future of the Federal Society,” Alito said, before reading from the fortune: “You will flourish and grow and travel to all parts of the country. You will spread wisdom and kindness and live as long as your work requires.”
Barrett, like Alito, received a standing ovation as she took the stage, using the moment to highlight the opposition she has faced in recent months.
“It’s very nice to have a lot of noise, but not from protesters outside my house,” he said.
She went on to discuss her own relationship with the group, which she joined while a law professor at Notre Dame Law School.
“I have benefited enormously from the efforts of those who did so much work in the beginning, including my dear Judge Silberman,” Barrett said, referring to the federal judge she clerked for after law school.
