The Path to the U.S. Supreme Court

Justice Samuel Alito spoke at NYU Shanghai about his judicial philosophy and life as a judge on  the US's highest court.

In a one-hour conversation with Vice Chancellor Jeffrey Lehman, Justice Alito addressed a stream of queries about the American judicial system and the role of the Supreme Court, ranging from whether the judiciary stands as the “least dangerous” branch of the US federal government, to the perception that Supreme Court justices do not embrace the “digital world.”

“The judiciary is indisputably the least dangerous branch, but that does not mean we are not dangerous,” he said, adding that the judiciary is not subjected to checks that can be routinely used by the other branches.  

Nominated by President George W. Bush, Justice Alito took his seat January 31, 2006. Prior to that, he served 16 years as a judge in the middle level of the federal judiciary, on the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

When asked about the similarities and differences of working in different levels of the legal system, Justice Alito said all judges have to interpret the US Constitution, the statutes and judicial precedents, and apply those laws to each situation that comes before the court.

However, according to Alito, a huge difference exists between district courts and courts of appeal, as the former “deal with real people, such as lawyers, witnesses and jurors” while in the latter judges mostly “read, write and think.”

In particular, Justice Alito shared his experiences as the single dissenter from his eight other colleagues in the cases, United States v. Stevens and Snyder v. Phelps.

As this year’s first distinguished guest, Justice Alito helped kicked off the new semester’s Conversations with The Vice Chancellor series. More leading figures from business, public policy, international affairs, science, and the arts will meet the NYU Shanghai community in the coming months.