Within the 18 years since her household left their house in New Jersey and stepped into a few of the most rarefied circles in Washington, Martha-Ann Alito has by no means sought or cultivated a very public identification.
Because the spouse of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., Mrs. Alito has described protecting a largely non-public life since his affirmation to the Supreme Court docket in 2006 — one grounded by elevating two youngsters and standing in assist of her husband by way of scrutiny and sharp-elbowed politics.
On the handful of events she has stepped ahead to handle an viewers or converse with reporters, Mrs. Alito has usually spoken about herself by way of her position inside a tight-knit nuclear household, holding it collectively by way of her husband’s meteoric, and at instances making an attempt, rise inside the judiciary.
“Essentially the most superb half is, why do individuals care about our life,” she stated in a 2006 interview, trying again on Justice Alito’s affirmation listening to, which at one level left her in tears and stirred dialogue in regards to the toll partisanship can tackle nominees’ kinfolk.
However since reporting by The New York Instances raised questions on how and why an upside-down American flag appeared exterior her household’s house in Alexandria, Va., simply days after rioters on the Capitol carried the identical flag on Jan. 6, 2021, Mrs. Alito, 70, has abruptly discovered herself on the heart of controversy. Her husband stated she had positioned it there amid a neighborhood spat.
By the point the household was on the cusp of transferring to Washington, the Alitos’ youngsters have been faculty age. Mrs. Alito described welcoming the change, having left a profession as a librarian to be a full-time homemaker and mom.
However the arduous preparations and the cruel reception Justice Alito encountered in Congress left a bitter reminiscence that Mrs. Alito would recall publicly for years afterward, denouncing the proceedings and the media protection round it.
“For me personally, the 2 months previous have been the horrible a part of our life,” she stated in remarks introducing her husband at an awards ceremony in April 2007. “And luckily, I used to be not in Washington, so I didn’t should learn the papers or have a look at the blogs or have a look at the pc, and I’ve continued that normal — I not learn besides after I select to select up a ebook.”
The pointed questions Justice Alito confronted from Democrats about his views on abortion, his affiliation with a conservative Princeton alumni group and whether or not he would defer to the court docket’s precedents struck Mrs. Alito as debasing.
“The way in which the world is nowadays, Sam is by far not even near being an imminent risk to civil liberties,” she stated within the 2006 interview.
Overcoming that sharp transition mirrored the upheavals of her childhood, which Mrs. Alito has mentioned publicly. Her father, who labored as an air site visitors controller within the Air Power, commonly moved the household between outposts in Texas, Florida, Maine and the Azores islands of Portugal. Her mom labored as a librarian on the bases the place they lived.
After following her mom’s path to grow to be a librarian for a New Jersey public library, the U.S. legal professional’s workplace in Newark and the Justice Division, Mrs. Alito constructed a restricted public life in Washington that has primarily centered on apolitical initiatives and charity work.
When Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s husband, Martin Ginsburg, died in 2010, Mrs. Alito organized the publication of a cookbook as a celebration of his culinary passions. In honor of her father’s service, she has additionally spoken about her work because the director of a bunch targeted on ending homelessness amongst veterans.
Whereas some companions of different Supreme Court docket justices — resembling Jane Sullivan Roberts or Virginia Thomas — have grow to be ensnared in controversy in recent times over their skilled lives and political leanings, Mrs. Alito has not.
Solely in uncommon moments have Mrs. Alito’s private dealings drawn consideration in any respect: as soon as, after she and Justice Alito shared a meal with a pair who later claimed that they had been advised the choice of a pending case prematurely, and once more when shares and mineral pursuits she inherited from her father raised minor issues about conflicts of curiosity in circumstances her husband may resolve.
Mrs. Alito graduated from the College of Kentucky with a bachelor’s diploma in comparative literature in 1976 and a grasp’s in library sciences in 1977. She met Justice Alito within the legislation library when he was an assistant U.S. legal professional. The 2 have been married in 1985, 5 years after their first date, within the church by which he was baptized.
