I was appointed by Governor Gray Davis to the Los Angeles Superior Court and by President Obama to the district court and then the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In securing the state court appointment, I think it really helped that I had some trial experience.
I believe having judges with real world, frontline experience as a prosecutor is a good thing.
When you come in to court as a plaintiff or as a defendant, it is terribly important that you look up at the bench and feel that that person represents you and will understand you, that that person is reflective of our community and of our society.
Thus went my first Court Day. I think i'm going to puke.
During my years as a practicing lawyer, it just was part of your study of what Congress was trying to say in their statutes. I never really considered judges or scholars as either those who used legislative history or those who were opposed to it until after I got on the court.
I was a defense attorney before I was a prosecutor, and so knowing what the defense is going to try to do is something that you have to do constantly when you're in trial. I always went to trial knowing what they were doing. So I was always in both mindsets anyway. 'Oh, they're going to do this, then I'm going to do that.'
I just feel like every time I'm on the court I just clear my head, clear my mind.
Any time I can play basketball I enjoy being out on the court.
I've become more mature on and off the court, and I've learned how to deal with some of those big occasions much better.
Right now my main aim is not to get injured any more. I am a little bit afraid of running and sliding because the ankle was so painful. But I am not a person who runs a lot, who spends a lot of energy on the court. If I am mentally OK, if nothing is bothering me and I want to play, then it is fine.
Me going to college, I think, was a great idea. I went only for two years, but I was able to mature both on and off the court.
For me, college was a big learning experience on and off the court, just growing as a person, becoming more mature.
It's true that eviction affects the young and the old, the sick and the able-bodied. It affects white folks and black folks and Hispanic folks and immigrants. If you spend time in housing court, you see a really diverse array of folks there.
You learn on the job. When I was a young lawyer and got a case, I knew nothing about the subject. You start reading, you look for the philosophy behind it, and by the time you are actually in a court of law, you are a master.
My biographers... would like to have my time at the court almost complete before they finish the book. We decided... to flip the order.
Going to trial with a lawyer who considers your whole life-style a Crime in Progress is not a happy prospect.
All those lessons that I've learned on the court, I have applied them to my life outside of the court in business, my company, called V Starr interiors, an interior design company, and EleVen, which I wear on court.
I've had two cancer bouts in my years on the Court, and the first one, Justice O'Connor told me, 'Now, you do the chemotherapy on Friday because you'll get over it during the weekend and you can be back in court on Monday.'
At the end of the day, everything I've been through on and off the court, I'm the only common denominator.
I cherish being on the court, and I really love watching basketball, women's basketball, whatever it is.
I can still remember the day, as an assistant U.S. attorney, when I stood up in court for the first time and I proudly said, "My name is Samuel Alito and I represent the United States in this court." It was a great honor for me to have the United States as my client during all of those years.
You've got to have fun on the court. If you ain't having fun, then basketball ain't fun.
I was always happy off the court at Golden State. It was on the court that I was frustrated.
When I first took the bench, I was assigned to handle a calendar of criminal cases. It was an enormous docket. I tried in each case to make sure that the litigants not only in fact received, but also felt that they had received, a full and fair opportunity to be heard.
People are intimidated in court, and I try to make them more comfortable.
