Secret audio of Justice Alito’s wife exposes his plans and her ‘bitterness’: critics

11.06.2024 18:33

Raw Story

Secretly-recorded audio of a candid and uninhibited conversation with Martha-Ann Alito, whose husband is the far-right Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, during which she exposed her apparent anti-LGBTQ bias, bragged about how she spends time planning revenge on her critics, and appeared to reveal her husband's possible retirement plans has stunned political experts and court-watchers alike.

Documentary filmmaker Lauren Windsor, posing as a conservative Catholic at the Supreme Court Historical Society’s annual dinner on June 3, also secretly recorded her conversations with both Justice Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts. Windsor, who some label an "activist," caught Justice Alito saying he believes there are “fundamental” differences between the left and the right that “can’t be compromised,” and agreeing the nation needs to return to “godliness.”

Last month Justice Alito was the subject of outrage, at least on the left, when The New York Times revealed flags associated with the January 6, 2021 insurrection and the "Stop the Steal" conspiracy had been flying at two of his homes. Alito pinned the blame on his wife while not acknowledging them as symbols of groups who attacked the U.S. Capitol and American democracy, in support of Donald Trump. The Justice has refused to recuse himself from any cases involving the attack on the Capitol or involving Donald Trump, leaving legal exerts to say he appears to be violating an unenforceable judicial code of conduct.

“You know what I want?" Martha-Ann Alito tells Windsor in that secretly-recorded audio (below). “I want a Sacred Heart of Jesus flag, because I have to look across the lagoon at the Pride flag for the next month.”

Rolling Stone, which had exclusive access to Windsor's audio, called that "the most jarring moment in the recording."

Mrs. Alito also shared her apparent passion for revenge, spite, and yes, judgment.

Speaking of her husband, Alito told Windsor, “He’s like, ‘Oh, please don’t put up a flag.’ I said, ‘I won’t do it because I am deferring to you. But when you are free of this nonsense, I’m putting it up and I’m gonna send them a message every day, maybe every week, I’ll be changing the flags.’ They’ll be all kinds. I made a flag in my head. This is how I satisfy myself. I made a flag. It’s white and has yellow and orange flames around it. And in the middle is the word ‘vergogna.’ ‘Vergogna’ in Italian means shame — vergogna. V-E-R-G-O-G-N-A. Vergogna.”

“Shame, shame, shame on you,” Mrs. Alito added.

Some have said her "when you are free of this nonsense" comment reveals the justice's plans to retire, likely when there is a Republican in the White House. Windsor also wrote, "Alito is 74. She made that comment and another that imply they are eyeing his retirement."

Rolling Stone also parenthetically noted that, "Last year, the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority ruled that businesses can discriminate against LGBTQ customers."

In earlier remarks, Martha-Ann Alito told Windsor, “the Femnazis believe that [Justice Alito] should control me.”

“So they’ll go to hell. He never controls me.”

When the audio first dropped Monday evening, this was the segment that appeared to many to be the most disturbing:

“Look at me, look at me," Martha-Ann Alito told Windsor. "I’m German. I’m from Germany. My heritage is German. You come after me, I’m gonna give it back to you. And there will be a way — it doesn’t have to be now — but there will be a way they will know. Don’t worry about it. God — you read the Bible. Psalm 27 is my psalm. Mine. Psalm 27, the Lord is my God and my rock. Of whom shall I be afraid? Nobody.”

Rolling Stone reports, "Mrs. Alito has for years harbored a disdain and bitterness towards others in the D.C. elite, whom she has bashed for supposedly excluding or shunning her and her husband, and for being too mean about them and their unabashedly conservative beliefs. Sources add that Mrs. Alito also has a longstanding reputation in influential GOP circles for ranting about politics, the culture wars, the Left, and the burning grudges she’s nursed since at least the George W. Bush era."

"Commenting on the Alito family’s dynamic," Rolling Stone continued, "a well-connected GOP lawyer says that Justice Alito 'is like if you turned National Review into a single person.' Martha-Ann Alito, the lawyer says, 'talks like if Breitbart assumed a human vessel … They’re the Washington couple of Donald Trump’s dreams.'"

Writer Charlotte Clymer, a former press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, response to the audio of Martha-Ann Alito by saying, "The Alitos' hatred of LGBTQ people is so visceral."

"The Alitos seem very invested in Trump winning so that Sam can retire and MarthaAnn can let her freak flags fly (literally) in order to antagonize their gay neighbors," observed journalist Brian Beutler.

Attorney George Conway mocked Martha-Ann Alito: "At the nation’s highest court, it was a tradition: go to a Supreme Court Historical Society event, grab a glass of wine, and talk to a total stranger about your shared apocalyptic religious and political worldview. But now the woke mob has taken all that away."

Journalist, author, and SiriusXM host Michelangelo Signorile remarked, "Martha-Ann Alito is a homophobic monster and thinks nothing of confirming her hate to a complete stranger."

MSNBC/NBC News legal contributor and correspondent Katie Phang commented, "Martha-Ann Alito got that 'vergogna' right. She and her husband bring shame to the highest court in the land."

Listen to Windsor's conversation with Martha-Ann Alito below or at this link.

EXCLUSIVE UNDERCOVER AUDIO: Martha-Ann Alito Unfurled
"I want a Sacred Heart of Jesus flag because I have to look across the lagoon at the Pride flag for the next month." pic.twitter.com/okNsW7SPlu — Lauren Windsor (@lawindsor) June 10, 2024