Samuel Alito on Supreme Court

Justice Samuel Alito faced significant challenges in maintaining majority opinions during the recent Supreme Court term, losing support from fellow conservatives Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson on two separate occasions. In a pivotal case regarding Texas and Florida laws that sought to limit social media content moderation, Alito's draft opinion was deemed too extreme, resulting in a 6-3 ruling that upheld the First Amendment rights of social media companies. This marks a rare occurrence where a justice assigned to write a majority opinion was unable to secure it. Additionally, Alito lost a majority in a case involving retaliation against public criticism, leading to an unsigned ruling from the court. The 74-year-old justice's hardline approach has reportedly caused increasing frustration among his colleagues, as he wrote the fewest leading opinions this term compared to his peers. Alito's public scrutiny has also intensified due to ongoing ethics controversies and his previous associations with the January 6 Capitol riots.