Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito warned on Thursday that Congress holds the power to shut down the nation's highest court by cutting off its funding, delivering a stark defense of judicial independence just over a week after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections.
 |
| File photo: Justice Samuel Alito in his judicial robes. Alito warned Thursday that Congress could defund the Supreme Court. |
Speaking to a crowd of more than 1,000 conservative lawyers at the Federalist Society's annual Antonin Scalia Memorial Dinner in Washington, the 76-year-old justice said lawmakers could bring the court's work to a halt if they chose to. "Congress can turn off the lights at the Supreme Court and stop everything from happening if they want to defund their activities," Alito said, according to The Hill, which first reported his remarks. "And there are many, many, many other things that they can do, or at least try to do."
A Warning About the Weakest Branch
Alito framed his remarks as a warning about the fragility of the judiciary within the American system of separated powers. He described the courts as the least powerful of the three branches of government and "vulnerable" to pressure from both Congress and the executive branch, arguing that preserving judicial independence is essential to keeping the constitutional system intact.
"So, it is important to preserve the independence of the judiciary," Alito told the audience. "If that is eliminated, then the Constitution as adopted in 1789 will no longer be the same."
The justice's argument rests on a structural reality of American government. Supreme Court justices are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and Congress controls the federal purse strings, including the money that pays for the court's staff, operations and facilities. While the Constitution bars Congress from reducing a sitting justice's salary during their time in office, the court's broader budget remains subject to the annual appropriations process.
Alito did not directly mention the midterm election results or the incoming Democratic majorities in Congress during his remarks, according to accounts of the speech. But the timing was impossible to ignore. The dinner came just nine days after voters handed Democrats control of the House and Senate on November 3, setting up a new and potentially confrontational relationship between lawmakers and the court's 6-3 conservative majority.
The Political Backdrop
Democratic lawmakers have spent years pushing for changes to the Supreme Court following a series of controversial rulings on abortion, presidential power and federal regulatory authority. Among the proposals floated by Democrats are expanding the number of justices from nine to 13, imposing term limits, establishing stricter ethics requirements and, in some cases, investigating individual justices.
In August, the expected chairmen of the House and Senate judiciary committees, Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, were reported to be coordinating an effort to investigate and subpoena Supreme Court justices in the next term, according to Whitehouse. The proposals have alarmed conservatives, who see them as a direct challenge to the court's independence.
The pressure intensified this week. On Wednesday, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York told CNN that Democrats should keep "all options on the table" when they take control of Congress in January, including the possibility of impeaching Supreme Court justices. She accused the court of shielding President Donald Trump from accountability and said it had "legalized a lot of his criminality," though she named no justices, gave no timetable and announced no plan to bring articles of impeachment against anyone.
Removing a justice would face steep constitutional obstacles in any case. The House can impeach a justice by a simple majority, but removal requires a two-thirds vote in the Senate, a threshold Democrats would not reach without significant Republican support. No sitting Supreme Court justice has ever been removed through impeachment. The only justice ever impeached by the House was Samuel Chase in 1804, and the Senate acquitted him in 1805.
Lower Courts Also in Alito's Sights
Alito's remarks were not aimed only at Congress. He also criticized some lower-court judges for issuing what he called "unjustified" orders blocking the policies of presidents in recent years, saying those judges had "gone far astray" in exercising their powers. The comment echoed a long-running conservative complaint that district judges have used nationwide injunctions to obstruct executive action.
The justice's appearance continued a tradition of Supreme Court justices addressing the Federalist Society's annual gathering, which takes place during the group's November convention. The dinner is named for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, and the Federalist Society has become one of the most influential organizations in conservative legal circles. Alito, appointed by President George W. Bush, has served on the court since early 2006 and is perhaps best known for writing the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the 2022 ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.
Funding Leverage Has Been Used Before
The idea of using the power of the purse against the court is not entirely new. In 2023, a group of Democratic senators proposed withholding 10 million dollars in Supreme Court funding until the justices adopted stricter ethics requirements. The proposal did not advance, but it showed that some lawmakers were willing to consider budget pressure as a tool.
This summer, two of Alito's colleagues, Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett, made a rare visit to Capitol Hill to press for the judiciary's budget and additional security funding in the wake of rising threats against judges. Their visit underscored how directly the court's day-to-day operations depend on congressional appropriations.
Alito also used the dinner to reiterate that he is not retiring and remains committed to serving through the end of the current Supreme Court term, according to reports of his remarks. The statement follows weeks of speculation after the midterm elections about whether Alito, 76, or Justice Clarence Thomas, 78, might step down. Sources close to both justices have told reporters that neither plans to leave.
 |
| File photo: The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. Alito said preserving the court's independence is essential to the Constitution. |
What This Means
Alito's speech was not a policy announcement or a legal ruling. It was a public argument, delivered to a friendly audience, about the limits of congressional power over the courts and the stakes of the coming fight between a Democratic Congress and a conservative Supreme Court.
The warning matters because the next two years are likely to test that relationship repeatedly. The incoming Congress is expected to hold hearings, issue subpoenas and pursue investigations of the Trump administration, and the Supreme Court is likely to be asked to rule on major questions involving presidential power, immigration, the scope of federal regulation and the limits of congressional authority itself. Each of those cases will put the court and Congress on opposite sides of the same constitutional questions Alito raised on Thursday.
The funding question adds a sharper edge to that tension. A Congress that controls the court's budget holds a real, if blunt, instrument of pressure, and Alito's decision to name it publicly suggests the justices are aware of how it could be used. His message, in effect, was that the court can only function as an independent check on the other branches if the other branches allow it to.
 |
| File photo: The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., where Congress controls the federal purse strings, including the Supreme Court's funding. |
What Happens Next
The new Congress takes office in January, and the first test of the relationship will come quickly. Democratic leaders have signaled plans for aggressive oversight of the administration, and the expected judiciary committee chairmen have already discussed investigations touching the court itself. Whether those plans include budget pressure, ethics legislation, court-expansion bills or impeachment talk will become clearer as the new session begins.
For now, the court's term continues, with major cases on the docket and the justices' own work unaffected by the political debate swirling around them. But Alito's warning has made one thing clear: the justices are watching Washington, and they expect the fight over the court's independence to intensify in the months ahead.
Post a Comment