Justice Alito Was a Real Dick to Justice Ginsburg

The inscrutable ballet of the Supreme Court continued it fancy dance this morning, with the court ruling on cases ranging in scope from one about drug warning labels to that one Affirmative Action case where that girl claimed that she didn’t get into the University of Texas because she’s white rather than because she’s dumb. But among the attempted parsing of complicated legalese, one thing didn’t need any analysis: the supreme stinkface Justice Samuel Alito gave Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as she read her dissenting opinion on two employment discrimination cases.

Normally, the most exciting theatrics to happen during the reading of SCOTUS opinions is when Justice Thomas has another one of his mid-nap night terrors and yells begins suddenly shouting about Long Dong Silver. But today, Alito’s dickishness when Bader Ginsburg read her lone dissenting opinion on two cases for which Alito had authored the majority opinion took center stage, according to the Atlantic, drawing gasps from some witnesses.

After both opinions had been read, Ginsburg read aloud a summary of her joint dissent in the two cases. She critiqued the Vance opinion by laying out a “hypothetical” (clearly drawn from a real case) in which a female worker on a road crew is subjected to humiliations by the “lead worker,” who directs the crew’s daily operation but cannot fire or demote those working with him. TheVance opinion, she suggested, would leave the female worker without a remedy.

At this point, Alito pursed his lips, rolled his eyes to the ceiling, and shook his head “no.”

YOU LEAVE RUTH BADER GINSBURG ALONE, SAMUEL ALITO!

The episode wasn’t captured and broadcast a million times on every show on MSNBC because TV cameras aren’t allowed in the SCOTUS chamber, but the Atlantic’s Garrett Epps saw the whole thing go down and was pretty appalled, calling Alito’s rudeness “inexcusable” and noting that Ginsburg is both older and more senior than Alito. Not that it really matters how old people are in relation to each other; you probably shouldn’t treat anyone that way when they’re just trying to do their fucking job, whether you’re a Supreme Court justice or line cook.

There has to be some ironic joke I can make about how Alito, guy who literally today authored a Supreme Court opinion that made it easier for workplace bullies to get away with it is himself acting like a workplace bully, but I can’t bring myself to imagine anyone trying to shove Ruth Bader Ginsburg into a locker.