Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s faced backlash Tuesday for joking about a child in a Ku Klux Klan robe visiting a black Santa during arguments in a high-profile free speech case.
The justices were weighing the case of a Christian graphic designer from Colorado who objects to designing wedding websites for same-sex couples when Alito proposed a hypothetical scenario, asking whether a black person dressed as Santa could refuse to take a picture with a child dressed in a KKK robe.
Colorado Solicitor General Eric Olson, who is representing the state in the challenge against its law, responded “No,” because Ku Klux Klan outfits wouldn’t be protected under public accommodation laws.
Justice Elena Kagan chimed in, saying Olson’s response wasn’t based on the race of the child wearing the outfit.
In an awkward moment, Alito responded: “You do see a lot of black children in Ku Klux Klan outfits, right? … All the time.”
Earlier, Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson asked whether a photography store in a shopping mall could refuse to take pictures of black people on Santa’s lap.
“Their policy is that only white children can be photographed with Santa in this way, because that’s how they view the scenes with Santa that they’re trying to depict,” said Jackson, one of the court’s two black justices.
Although in the moment Alito’s quip drew laughter from some of those present in the courtroom, on Twitter it sparked a firestorm of criticism.
This argument….follow @mjs_DC and @chrisgeidner for a live tweet. I’m listening but this is really upsetting. The joke about Black kids in KuKluxKlan outfits? No Justice Alito, these “jokes” are so inappropriate, no matter how many in the courtroom chuckle mindlessly.
— Sherrilyn Ifill (@SIfill_) December 5, 2022
“The joke about Black kids in KuKluxKlan outfits? No Justice Aito, these ‘jokes’ are so inappropriate, no matter how many in the courtroom chuckle mindlessly,” she wrote.
Another user Victor Shi fumed: “How can anyone — especially Gen Z who saw this court literally overturn the right to an abortion—take this court seriously with people like Alito & (Justice Clarence) Thomas on the bench?”
Yet another commenter Charles Campisi called Alito’s words “sickening, despicable, outrageous & disgusting.”
Katherine Franke, a law professor at Columbia University and director of the school’s Center for Gender & Sexuality Law, took Alito to task for making off-color jokes while deciding an important case that could have far-reaching consequences for the LGBTQ community.
“Justice Alito is resorting to KKK jokes. Ha ha ha,” she tweeted. “As if what’s at stake here is funny, and isn’t taking place in a context in which LGBTQ people feel like we have a target on our backs. And, ahem – Klan jokes aren’t funny under any context.”
The Colorado case comes amid growing concerns that the Supreme Court, which is controlled by a conservative majority, might overturn its decision declaring a nationwide right to same-sex marriage — just months after ending constitutional protections for abortion.
The White House is currently awaiting final passage in Congress of the bill protecting same-sex and interracial marriage.
With Post wires
