print-only banner
The White House Skip Main Navigation
  
 Home > News & Policies > Policies in Focus

Link to Judicial Nominations Front Page
Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr.

United States Supreme Court

On January 31, 2006, Samuel A. Alito, Jr. was confirmed as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

BIOGRAPHY

  • Samuel A. Alito, Jr., was born in April, 1950, in Trenton, New Jersey.
  • Justice Alito received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and attended Yale Law School, where he served as an editor on the Yale Law Journal.
  • He clerked for Judge Leonard Garth of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
  • From 1977 to 1980, Justice Alito served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the appellate division, where he argued cases before the Third Circuit, to which he was later appointed.
  • From 1981 to 1985, he served as Assistant to the Solicitor General. He has argued 12 cases on behalf of the federal government in the U.S. Supreme Court and he has argued at least two dozen others before the federal courts of appeals.
  • From 1985 to 1987, Justice Alito served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel, where he provided constitutional advice for the Executive Branch.
  • From 1987 to 1989, Justice Alito served as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey where he was best know for prosecuting white collar and environmental crimes, drug trafficking, organized crime, and violations of civil rights.
  • Justice Alito was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey.
  • In 1990, President George H.W. Bush nominated Alito to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and he was unanimously confirmed by voice vote by the U.S. Senate.
  • Justice Alito has participated in thousands of appeals and authored hundreds of opinions.
  • Justice Alito has participated in various professional associations including the New Jersey Federal Bar Association (member of advisory board); the New Jersey State Bar Association; the American Bar Association; and the Federalist Society.
  • In 1985, he married Martha-Ann Bomgardner, with whom he has two children.