Molly Hemingway

He's the giant on this court.

And I knew I wanted to cover him and explain the significance of his jurisprudence, and I tried to show that.

Thomas is a very libertarian-type originalist, and he is so principled, and people admire that.

Alito is a more conservative originalist.

He's more pragmatic and practical.

They work together very well, but they are different, and I think Alito is a model for Americans in how he shows you can be simultaneously extremely principled and also thinking about

strategy, how to win, how to secure wins for the country that you care about.

In the conservative movement right now, we see extremes, people saying the only thing that matters is to be principled or the only thing that matters is to win at all costs.

In Alito, you have a man who shows those don't need to be at odds at all.

And that's an interesting model for a lot of Americans that they should look to as well.

Justice Thomas chose him because he thought he was the right person to do this.

So usually the Chief Justice assigns who is writing the majority opinion because he's usually in the majority.

In this case, he was not in the majority that was set to overrule Roe v. Wade.

So then it goes to the most senior justice, which is Justice Thomas.

He already had a big case he was working on for that term.

but he also knew it just had to be done perfectly.

With Alito, you have a man who is willing to put in the work to be exhaustive in his opinions.

He goes through everything, the history, the original meaning, the effects of what's going on, and he also knows how to keep a majority together.

These members on the court are as independent as hogs on ice, as Chief Justice William Rehnquist once said.

And so it can be difficult to keep them all together.