I worked for Justice Alito. What I saw up close shatters the media smear

Louisiana Solicitor General defends Justice Alito against media criticism, citing personal clerkship experience and revealing the justice's humble character.

Some jurists are reputed to be harsh taskmasters. Not Justice Alito. Not only did he lighten our loads at all costs, but he also never raised his voice or directed displeasure toward us. Obsessive depictions of Justice Alito as "aggrieved" and "unhappy" in the media are personal to me. Ben Aguiñaga is the Solicitor General of Louisiana and a former law clerk to Justice Alito. He previously served in the U.S. Department of Justice and as a law clerk to Judge Edith H. Jones of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and then-Justice Don R. Willett of the Texas Supreme Court.

I was born in Louisiana and grew up in the South, where I attended Baylor University for undergrad and Louisiana State University for law school. Today, I serve as the Solicitor General of Louisiana, which requires me to argue before the Supreme Court. That is the experience of a lifetime—an experience sometimes described as a Super Bowl for lawyers, or, as one Yelp review of the Supreme Court building put it, Washington’s version of a gladiator match.