Ultra-conservative gala welcomes supreme court justices who ended Roe v Wade

Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the opinion in the shock decision, got a long, loud ovation at the event on Thursday night from a crowd of 2,000 people, most in tuxedos and gowns, when another speaker praised him on the overturning of Roe v Wade in June.

Such a decision was long a target of judicial conservatives and the anti-abortion movement had been undermining rights across many US states for decades after the original Roe decision, in 1973, ushered in the era of federal protection for abortion rights.

At a moment when opinion surveys show that Americans think the court is becoming more political and give it dismal approval ratings, the justices turned out to celebrate the group that helped Donald Trump and Senate Republicans move the American judiciary, including the supreme court, firmly to the right.

The Federalist Society has no partisan affiliation and takes no position in election campaigns, but it is closely aligned with Republican priorities, including the drive to overturn Roe.

Abortion protections were on the ballot in referendum questions in a number of states during the midterm elections earlier this week.

Chief Justice John Roberts in June joined neither the opinion nor the dissent of the three liberal-leaning justices in the bombshell Roe decision.

After Donald Trump filled the seat left by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020 with Amy Coney Barrett, the court achieved a conservative super-majority.