Justice Samuel Alito said in an interview that Congress does not have the authority to regulate the Supreme Court, pushing back against Democratic efforts to mandate stronger ethics rules for the justices. Alito argued that the Constitution does not give Congress the power to regulate the Supreme Court. While Chief Justice John Roberts has also questioned Congress’s ability to act, he was not as definitive as Alito. Some Democrats rejected Alito’s reasoning, arguing that the Supreme Court should be subject to checks and balances. The ethics push comes after recent revelations about undisclosed trips and other ethics issues involving several Supreme Court justices.
He’s flat out lying.
US Constitution Article 3, first fucking line:
Section 1
The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.
I also would like to point out the “good Behaviour” clause in the next line that determines the length of a justice’s tenure, and under which Alioto has clearly disqualified himself from serving as a justice.
He’s not arguing in good faith. He knows if he says that out loud the right wing media will run with it like it’s fact. Then when it’s actually proven false the MAGAs will refuse to believe it.
Agreed - it’s clear he’s just trying to throw out something to take the heat off. I hope that this particular mangling of the Constitution will backfire on him, because even a first year law student would find the argument facetious and self-serving at best, and it gives his critics further fuel to not only attack his position as justice, but grounds to call for disbarment.
Absolutely the case. The fact is that if no one enforces it, it doesn’t matter if it’s true. The first step to get people to not enforce it is to believe it wasn’t that way to start with. So the argument then becomes moot unless people can be convinced of the opposite which the Republican base only believes the GQP. So essentially this is an attempt to weaken democracy and drive a soft-coup. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_coup Essentially what the GQP has been trying to do all along is drive us to a soft coup and Trump was just the most vocal stepping stone in a long series of stepping stones. Essentially put people in places of power that will only represent the GQP’s interests and start to erode any power the government has in correcting those people in power.
We are going to keep seeing autocracy rise in the world and the USA is going to likely be one the first major powers of the West to fall into it. It’s more than inevitable since no one is talking about this future. No one is talking about democratic backsliding in the world. There are more autocracies in the world now than in the last 100 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding
Your bolded part just says they can create inferior courts. I don’t understand what point you’re making emphasizing it.
The sentence after that, not emphasized, the good behavior part, is already understood and judges in the federal court system can be, and have been, impeached.
Good behavior is generally used to justify lifetime tenure as a judge, unless impeached.
However, the Constitution does not guarantee lifetime tenure on the SCOTUS itself. Nothing prevents Congress from requiring a Justice to transfer to a lower court after, say, 18 years on the SCOTUS.
Well, except for the fact that acts of congress require legislation, which the supreme court can find unconstitutional.
The constitution creates the supreme courts. The Congress can make inferior courts.
in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.
I could see it being argued that this mentions (1) “one supreme Court” and (2) “such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish,” so the bit about Congress applies only to the inferior courts.
Except that it’s never worked that way throughout the history of United States.
The Supreme Court itself is established by an act of Congress, the Judiciary Act of 1789. The Congress has always had the power to not only set the number of justices (last paragraph on that link), but to impeach them as well.
A misplaced comma doesn’t trump 240 years of legal precedent, no matter how much Alioto might wish it did.
A misplaced comma doesn’t trump 240 years of legal precedent, no matter how much Alioto might wish it did.
Fortunately true.
Unfortunately, in the larger court of public opinion, it can very effectively be used as basis to rile up and outrage the domestic terrorists loyal to the corrupted judiciary, so there will most likely be some trepidation about clarifying this.
We’ve gone from “we’re not corrupt” to “you can’t do anything about it”. He’s not denying the corruption at all anymore.
the Constitution does not give Congress the power to regulate the Supreme Court
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think the Constitution gives the Supreme Court most of the authority that it has given itself either.
Article 3, Section 1 of the Constitution says Supreme Court Justices “shall hold their offices during good behaviour”. If Congress can define “militia” for the purposes of the Second Amendment, they can define “good behaviour” for this.
I guess “checks and balances” means nothing, then. What happens when congress passes laws to regulate them and they just say “nuh uh that’s unconstitutional” when it’s obviously and demonstrably not?
