Alito claims Supreme Court's Dobbs decision took 'courage' from all justices in majority

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said in a media clip teased Friday that the decision to overturn the landmark Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade took "courage" from the justices who voted in the majority.

The landmark ruling, which occurred in the 1970s, guaranteed a woman's right to have access to an abortion. The Supreme Court overturned the historic ruling in June 2022, which returned the issue to individual states.

Alito, who wrote the majority opinion, was asked by CBS News if there was a particular court case that took courage for the justices, to which he said the top one that came to mind was Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

"The leading example is Dobbs," he said. "I think that required courage by all the justices in the majority. We didn’t know it at the time. We didn’t know it when we produced the draft that was leaked, but it required courage to go ahead with that because of the implications.

“There are others," he continued. "I mean, there are cases that have resulted in the loss of old friendships; that’s something that you have to live with." 

Alito admitted that losing friends because of a Supreme Court ruling came with the territory but that the recent increase in threats against the justices and wearing bulletproof jackets were not part of the job.

“It’s part of the job that you’re going to displease people by making decisions on controversial matters because one side or the other is going to really dislike you because of the decisions," he said. “The physical threats and the harassment represent something new in our society and something that’s quite disturbing, and I think it’s a danger." 

The conversation comes as voters get ready to head to the polls next month for the 2026 midterm elections. Although many states have already moved to either codify access to abortion or ban it, four states will have abortion-related measures for their voters to consider this year, including Virginia and Nevada.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.