Alito, Samuel Anthony, Jr. (1950-…), became an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in 2006. President George W. Bush named him to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
Prior to his appointment to the court, Alito served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He had previously worked as an attorney in President Ronald Reagan’s administration and as a federal prosecutor, who argues the government’s case against a defendant in a trial. Alito was known as a conservative.
Alito was born on April 1, 1950, in Trenton, New Jersey. He graduated from Princeton University in 1972 and from Yale Law School in 1975. He served as a law clerk from 1976 to 1977. From 1977 to 1981, he served as assistant U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey. In 1981, he became assistant to the U.S. solicitor general in the Reagan administration. As assistant to the solicitor general, Alito argued 12 cases before the Supreme Court. In 1985, he became deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice. From 1987 to 1990, he served as U.S. attorney for the New Jersey District. He was appointed a federal appeals court judge in 1990.
