Samuel Alito Secret Recording: Filmmaker Says Remarks Give "Window" into His Conservative Ideology

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We speak with filmmaker Lauren Windsor, whose recorded conversations with U.S. Supreme Court justices have sparked the latest firestorm over how the country's top jurists are ruling on consequential cases. Windsor posed as a conservative activist to speak with Justice Samuel Alito at a June 3 event of the Supreme Court Historical Society, where he appeared to endorse running the U.S. as a Christian theocracy and said he was doubtful about living peacefully with political opponents. In a separate recording from the same event, Alito's wife, Martha-Ann Alito, complained about rainbow flags during Pride Month and made other incendiary remarks. Alito has refused to recuse himself from cases involving Donald Trump and the January 6 insurrection even after photos emerged of two flags associated with election deniers flying in front of his homes. "It wasn't hard to speak with either of them," says Windsor, who collected the recordings as part of her upcoming film Gonzo for Democracy and paid a total of $650 to get into the event. "These are individuals who have to operate professionally at the highest degree of discretion," she says of Supreme Court justices. "It should tell you something that [Alito] felt comfortable enough to make these admissions to an almost virtual stranger."

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