Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, retires

June 30, 2026 10:51 AM ET


Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the Supreme Court's opinion reversing Roe v. Wade, is retiring, the court announced Tuesday.

Alito was nominated to the court in 2005 by President George W. Bush to fill the seat vacated by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

In the history of the Supreme Court, the names of just a few justices are linked with a single very famous, or infamous, decision. Chief Justice John Marshall for his groundbreaking decision in1803, declaring that courts have the power to strike down laws that violate the Constitution. Chief Justice Roger Taney for his infamous decision in the Dred Scott case declaring that no African American, enslaved or free, could be a citizen of the United states, a decision that led in part to the Civil War; Chief Justice Earl Warren for his 1954 decision declaring racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional. And in our own times, Alito's name is indelibly linked with the court's opinion overturning a half century's worth of decisions declaring that women have a right to abortion.

A consequential conservative

Alito, unlike Marshall, Taney and Warren, was not chief justice, and he may even now be little known to the public generally. But throughout his tenure, he played a key role on the court, often leading the conservative charge, not just on abortion, but for expanded religious rights, against LGBTQ+ rights, against expanded voting rights, for the death penalty, against labor unions, and more.