All About Alito (ft. Mollie Hemingway)
May 4, 2026
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1:03:10Now PlayingAll About Alito (ft. Mollie Hemingway)
YouTube Description
as posted by the channelThis week on Moment of Truth, Nick sits down with Mollie Hemingway, editor-in-chief of The Federalist and author of the new biography Alito: The Justice Who Reshaped the Supreme Court and Restored the Constitution, for a deep dive into the most consequential yet least understood justice on the Supreme Court.
Mollie makes the case that Samuel Alito is not just the author of the biggest conservative legal victory in fifty years, but also the clearest model for how to balance principle and pragmatism in a movement that tends to choose only one. They cover originalism and how Alito's brand of it differs from Scalia and Thomas, the inside story of how Dobbs actually came together, the unprecedented leak that triggered assassination threats against the justices, the smear campaigns from Bork to Kavanaugh, and why the lower federal courts — not the Supreme Court — are the real crisis facing the rule of law right now.
Follow Mollie
Get the book
#supremecourt #roevwadeoverturned #alito
(00:00) Welcome to Moment of Truth
(03:22) Building a Career in Journalism
(05:35) Why Samuel Alito Needed a Book Written About Him
(07:23) What Is Originalism and How Did It Develop?
(10:22) How Alito's Pragmatic Originalism Differs From Scalia and Thomas
(15:06) Alito's Famous Oral Arguments
(19:08) Why Alito Clerks Are the Most Impressive People in DC
(23:51) The Principle vs. Pragmatism Debate in the Conservative Movement
(31:17) The Inside Story of How Dobbs Came Together
(38:12) The Harriet Miers Disaster and How Alito Got Nominated
(43:07) The Kavanaugh Smear Campaign
(45:37) The Leak of the Dobbs Draft Opinion
(47:22) How ProPublica Spent $53 Million Trying to Destroy Alito and Thomas
(51:29) Has Alito Changed at All in Twenty Years on the Court?
(53:26) Where the Court Goes From Here
(57:36) Do the Justices Actually Hang Out Together
(1:00:32) Where to Buy Alito
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