Conservative Justice Delivers Fiery Critique of Ketanji Brown Jackson in Heated Court Exchange

Conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has made a striking critique of liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, describing her claims as “baseless and insulting.”

This sharp exchange followed Jackson’s accusation that the court’s conservative majority was engaged in an “unprincipled use of power” by expediting a decision that permits Louisiana Republicans to redraw their congressional districts ahead of the upcoming November midterm elections.

The controversy centers on whether the Supreme Court should have accelerated last week’s decision, deviating from its usual timing protocols to allow the state to modify its map.

As a result of this decision, Louisiana now has the authority to halt its current primary process, enabling Republicans to reconfigure districts and potentially eliminate one of the state’s two majority-black seats.

The conservative justices defended the expedited process, citing that early voting for the primary was already in progress and the midterm elections are only six months away.

They also pointed out that the opposing parties had not indicated any plans to request a rehearing, which typically justifies the standard 32-day delay in implementing such decisions.

But Jackson argued in fiery language that the move compromised the appearance of neutrality, writing that it was ‘tantamount to an approval of Louisiana’s rush to pause the ongoing election in order to pass a new map.’ The majority, she added, had ‘dive[d] into the fray’ in a way that was ‘unwarranted and unwise.’

Alito countered that it was common sense to send the case back to the lower court immediately once the underlying constitutional question, decided 6-3 last week in Louisiana v. Callais, had been settled in Louisiana’s favor.

In a concurrence joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, Alito wrote that ‘the dissent in this suit levels charges that cannot go unanswered.’

He dismissed Jackson’s two stated reasons for keeping to the 32-day waiting period – that the court should stick to the rule and foregoing it threatened the appearance of impartiality – writing: ‘One is trivial at best, and the other is baseless and insulting.’

Alito issued a ferocious rebuttal to Jackson’s accusation that the majority had acted in an ‘unprincipled’ fashion, calling it ‘a groundless and utterly irresponsible charge.’

And in an acerbic barb at her tone, he wrote: ‘The dissent accuses the Court of “unshackl[ing]” itself from “constraints.” It is the dissent’s rhetoric that lacks restraint.’

Monday’s order was unsigned, meaning it was issued in the name of the court without identifying which justices were in the majority or how they voted. 

Only Jackson publicly noted her dissent, leaving her isolated even from her two liberal colleagues, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, who had joined her in dissenting from last week’s underlying 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais. 

Joe Biden embraces Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson during a celebration of her confirmation as the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, on the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 8, 2022

In that ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett formed the majority, with Kagan writing a dissent so forceful she read it aloud from the bench and dropped the customary ‘respectfully’ from her sign-off.

Jackson noted in her dissent that the court has waived its standard 32-day waiting period only twice in the past 25 years, underscoring how unusual Monday’s intervention was.

The clash is the latest blow-up involving Jackson, appointed by Joe Biden in 2022, who has emerged as the court’s most strident solo dissenter, repeatedly going it alone to torch majority rulings that hand wins to Donald Trump and the GOP.