Overturning Roe V. Wade Required ‘Courage’ From Supreme Court Justices, Alito Reflects

Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito highlighted the threat political violence poses to the judiciary in a recent interview.

“The physical threats and the harassment represents something new in our society and something that is quite disturbing … And I think it’s a danger to the courts, and I think it’s a danger to others in public life,” Alito said an interview with CBS News being released Monday. The 76-year-old conservative justice’s observation follows multiple instances of left-wing activists signaling a support for violence against public figures who disagree with their ideologies.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, which overturned Roe v. Wade, required “courage” from all of the justices in the majority.

“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,” he said.

He told CBS News’ @JanCBS that he lost friends over the Dobbs decision. And he called physical threats and harassment “quite disturbing” and “a danger for the courts.”

— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 2, 2026

Alito, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, wrote the majority opinion accompanying the June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which overturned the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade and returned the issue to the states.