Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito
Justice Samuel Alito (courtesy Federalist Society)

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito addressed the Federalist Society last week and held forth on a number of topics affecting the Court. One of the most interesting subjects he covered was the handling of the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. City of New York gun rights case.

After referring to the right to keep and bear arms as “the ultimate second tier constitutional right in the minds of some,” Justice Alito addressed the naked threats made against the Court in a brief submitted by five Senate Democrats in a clear attempt to bully the court.

Five United States senators who filed a brief in support of the city went further. They wrote that the Supreme Court is a sick institution, and that if the court did not mend its ways, well, it might have to be quote, restructured.

Afterwards receiving this warning, the court did exactly what the city and the Senators wanted. It held that the case was moot. And it said nothing about the Second Amendment.

Three of us protested, but to no avail. Now, let me be clear, again, I’m not suggesting that the court’s decision was influenced by the senators’ threat. But I am concerned that the outcome might be viewed that way by the Senators and others with thoughts of bullying the court.

This little episode, I’m afraid may provide a foretaste of what the Supreme Court will face in the future. And therefore, I don’t think it can simply be brushed aside. The Senators’ brief was extraordinary. I could say something about standards of professional conduct. But the brief involved something even more important. It was an affront to the Constitution and the rule of law.

Let’s go back to some basics. The Supreme Court was created by the Constitution, not by Congress. under the Constitution, we exercise the judicial power of the United States. Congress has no right to interfere with that work any more than we have the right to legislate. Our obligation is to decide cases based on the law period. And it is therefore wrong for anybody, including members of Congress to try to influence our decisions by anything other than legal argumentation.

That sort of thing is often happened in countries governed by power, not law. The Supreme Court Justice from one such place recounted what happened when his court was considering a case that was very important to those in power. He looked out the window and saw a tank pull up and point its gun toward the court. message was clear, the slide the right way. Or the courthouse might be, shall we say, restructured?

That was a crude threat. But all threats and inducements are intolerable. Judges dedicated to the rule of law have a clear duty. They cannot compromise principle or rationalize any departure from what they are obligated to do. And I’m confident that the Supreme Court will not do that in the years ahead.

– Josh Blackman in Video and Transcript of Justice Alito’s Keynote Address to the Federalist Society

 

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97 COMMENTS

    • The real joke is that you think anyone seriously takes anything you have to say.

      They don’t. You’re the joke. You’re a fun punch-toy for me to play with whenever I feel like it. Like, now. 🙂

      Now, dance, boy. I order you to amuse me… 🙂

        • I think it’s cute that you two wake up together and unleash your impotent fury on me. 🤣🤣🤡🤡.

        • Lil chewballs has NO choice Geoff.
          The master holding his leash ALSO turns the organ grinder crank.
          He’ll chew whatever balls he’s commanded to chew. Whatever the tune, he dances for the bloombucks.
          Right lil chewballs?
          Trump/Pence 2020

  2. Wow!

    Justice Allito stands with Clarence Thomas, Amy Coney Barrett and the late Anthony Scalia as my judicial heroes.

    Perhaps we the people need to restructure Congress using the same tactics as that foreign government?

    • That will only work if you leave the body lay on the front steps. Then everyone walking in will understand they work for the people and can be fired. Bu the problem with this logic is I do believe God fearing, Constitution believing, Second Amendment supporting, America lovers seem to be the minority any more. We the people hold the keys to who gets into office, but the vote may have gone against us this time around.

      • “Constitution believing,….America lovers seem to be the minority any more. ”

        Yes we are. Check the vote counts in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Trump lost the popular vote both times, by notable amounts. If we assume that all the votes above the number Trump obtained are/were bogus, the best that can be said is the nation is evenly divided between traditional American values, and the Children’s Crusade. An even split is not a majority, a mandate, or a victory for America as founded.

        • “If we assume that all the votes above the number Trump obtained are/were bogus”

          Well, there’s your problem, you’re making assumptions without any evidence to support your claims.

          We’re now at somewhere around 15 loser lawsuits being dismissed by judges around the country, I’m sure you’ll claim they are all part of the deep state supporting pedophiles baby eaters.

          Do you remember when Hillary refused to concede the election, led her followers in crazy rallies claiming fraudulent votes, filed dozens of frivolous lawsuits that were dismissed by sitting judges?

          No, she accepted the outcome and didn’t whine and cry like a little snowflake, that’s leadership.

          And remember all the witnesses testimony and evidence that was blocked by the Trump administration with their bogus claims of thirdhand presidential privilege during the Mueller investigation?

          The Biden/Harris administration will be letting a little daylight into the inner workings of the trump crime syndicate, this should be interesting

        • No, she accepted the outcome and didn’t whine and cry like a little snowflake, that’s leadership.

          What alternate reality do you live in? Just a couple weeks ago she said Trump was illegitimate.

    • Yes, that is certainly what they did in 1917 Russia and countless other coups in South America.

      Funny thing, though, when power flows from a barrel of a gun, the people in power make sure no one else has them.

      How fast supposed supporters of the Constitution forget the whole reason it exists and are happy to get rid of the republic because they don’t get what they want.

      • “How fast supposed supporters of the Constitution forget the whole reason it exists and are happy to get rid of the republic because they don’t get what they want.”

        Yeah? Well, like, you know, uuhhmm, like sone gnarly dude once said, “C’mon, man; the constitution is not like, you know, a suicide pact thing.”

      • Nobody is getting rid of the republic because we didn’t get what we want. We’re only exploring ideas how to peacefully and legally restore the republic because it has already been gotten rid of by the socialists. Really, the majority of the government as constituted today and the governing as conducted today has ZERO legal basis in the Constitution. Republic? What republic?

        • So Jonathan, would you care to give us a report on how the pandemic is doing in your neck of the woods?

          I see y’all have over 1 million positives, with thousands dead, the democratic hoax virus seems to be taken quite a toll in your state.

          Or is that fake news from the Bloomberg controlled main stream media?

          NBC reports El Paso already has 10 refrigerated trailers full of bodies, how many mobile morgues have they installed in Houston?

          Really, because President Donald Trump has said that the virus will fade away, it’ll be just like a miracle, we should move all those medical assets out of Texas into states that could use them for their citizens, don’t you think?

  3. And what do we make of Chief Justice John Roberts re-writing the Affordable Care Act’s funding mechanism to make it constitutional? That’s what the Congress is supposed to do which of course means the ACA is still unconstitutional as it was never re-passed by the Congress and re-signed in to law. But let’s never mind the facts…

    • Installing John Roberts on the U.S. Supreme Court is arguably the biggest political blunder that Republicans have ever made. His appointment is the “gift that keeps on giving” — to Democrats.

      • “biggest political blunder that Republicans have ever made”

        I thought Donald Trump said the invasion of Iraq was the biggest mistake the Republicans had ever made?

        Did Dick Cheney and Colin Powell ever find all those weapons of mass destruction they talked about, or was that just more Republican deep state BS?

    • “And what do we make of Chief Justice John Roberts re-writing the Affordable Care Act’s funding mechanism to make it constitutional?”

      For the time being, chill.

      SCotUS oral arguments on it were heard about a week back, and while it’s impossible to decipher court arguments, the ruling looks like it may come down that that the mandate itself is unconstitutional, but the rest of the law stands.

      Since the law cannot stand without it (it will die of financial starvation), it will inevitably collapse under its own weight. That will kill ‘ObamaCare’.

      And Obama’s ‘legacy’ will die with it, and we will cheer long into the night… 😉

      • The big problem there is that “the rest of” Obamacare contains a lot of rules and regulations on private insurance.

        With those still in place we will still see a failure of insurance in general which the left will falsely blame on capitalism and use as an excuse to implement medicare for all or some other communist universal health program.

        • It was *designed* to fail, and be a stepping-stone to single-payer ‘health care’, (read, socialized healthcare)…

  4. {Three Leftist United States Senators made a direct threat to the supreme Court of the United States}

    “Three of us protested, but to no avail. Now, let me be clear, again, I’m not suggesting that the court’s decision was influenced by the senators’ threat. But I am concerned that the outcome might be viewed that way by the Senators and others with thoughts of bullying the court.”

    To date, no one has explained why a recommendation of prosecution was not made to the Justice Department for threatening a federal judge, a felony crime…

    • Because it’s not a threat of violence. It’s a ‘threat’ of legislation which is completely legal- as it must be in a republic.

      The way to deal with such a threat is for citizens to vote. And, to some extent, that’s what happened. I think the moronic bluster about court packing swayed a lot of middle-ground voters to not give the democratic party what it wanted. And in 2022 they might get even more of a wakeup call.

      The problem is that the dingbats that keep pushing this stuff have safe seats. The geographic segregation of America by partisanship means that the system is getting more and more ripped apart because the people who become the most powerful in each party are those that never have to fear losing an election except in a primary.

      • I agree with you, but … If the GOP loses both senate seats in the Georgia runoff elections, then we’re screwed. If they can steal a presidential election, a couple of senate seats is no big deal.

  5. Here is the root problem people:

    Historically, ambitious Progressives restrained themselves significantly. Recently (the last 15 years give-or-take), more and more Progressives no longer restrain their ambitions. Any why not since they never pay any significant penalties for violating all standards of righteousness, law, and decency?

    That trend will accelerate until good and decent people stop it. Sadly, I seriously doubt that good and decent people will be able to stop unrestrained Progressive ambitions through voting or the courts. Instead, I fear that stopping unrestrained Progressives will require a massive “hands-on” approach.

    • “Recently (the last 15 years give-or-take), more and more Progressives no longer restrain their ambitions. Any why not since they never pay any significant penalties for violating all standards of righteousness, law, and decency?”

      Why are those three senators not in Leavenworth right now? Threatening a federal judge to rule a certain way on a case is a FELONY CRIME…

      • Geoff PR,

        Threatening to attack, maim, and/or murder a federal judge for failing to render righteous rulings is certainly a felony. Threatening to add more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court if a federal judge does not decide a case to your satisfaction is not a felony.

        While threatening to “pack the court” is obviously a giant douchebag move, it is not a felony.

        • “While threatening to “pack the court” is obviously a giant douchebag move, it is not a felony.”

          Correct. It is an exercise of Constitutional power granted the legislature. However….while it may not be a felony threat of physical harm, one might make the case that it is a felony to provide inducement to a federal judge in return for favorable treatment (i.e. a bribe). There is a difference between raising or lowering the number of SC judges in an effort to manage workload, and connecting such management decisions to the outcome of SC decisions.

        • Any means, threats or otherwise, to influence a judge or jury is a crime. From a municipal court to the supreme. Why are the laws not enforced?

        • “Tired of the bs”

          No it isn’t. The law is not whatever you want it to be. It’s written out. And there are specific definitions for things like “threats”.

        • So it’s not a crime to attempt to influence a judge or jury to get the outcome you want ? I guess I should have been more specific and specified outside being the prosecutor, defense attorney or a sworn witness. If you must pick nits I was referring to illegal means bribery, threats you know the usual political ways.

  7. The day the supreme court is able to be intimidated into bad decisions by scumbag dems is the day we might as well do a “Pelosi” with the constitution! Unfu**inbelievable.

  8. As time goes on, “liberals” reveal their true selves more and more. The 1960s were the worst decade for this country; we are living the logical outcome of the “revolutions” of that decade. Social chaos and degeneracy and rising totalitarianism from the Left.

      • James, it seems you really are somewhat mentally challenged.

        Perhaps you are born of the demon seed Dr. Emmanuel speaks of, or were you genetically engineered with the alien DNA she says the medical profession is using to create hybrid organisms?

        “On her website and in sermons posted on YouTube, Immanuel — who practices medicine at Rehoboth Medical Center, a clinic in Houston, and is the founder of the Fire Power Ministries church — has, among other things, claimed that sex with “tormenting spirits” is responsible for gynecological problems, miscarriages and impotence.

        “Many women suffer from astral sex regularly. Astral sex is the ability to project one’s spirit man into the victim’s body and have intercourse with it,” she once claimed in a sermon. Immanuel has not responded to CNN’s efforts to contact her for comment.

        The Daily Beast also said that Immanuel has suggested in previous sermons that alien DNA was used in medical treatments and that scientists are plotting to develop a “vaccine” to make it impossible to become religious. The Daily Beast reported on her remarks on Tuesday, and, according to Immanuel, did a “great job summarizing our deliverance ministry and exposing incubus and succubus.”

        Immanuel received her medical degree from a university in Nigeria in 1990, according to the Texas Medical Board database. On her Facebook page, Immanuel says she was born in Cameroon and describes herself as “God’s battle axe and weapon of war.”

        James, you had better check your wife, she may have been having sex with demons while you were sleeping on the couch:

        “Many women suffer from astral sex regularly. Astral sex is the ability to project one’s spirit man into the victim’s body and have intercourse with it,” she once claimed in a sermon.”

        You guys are unbelievably entertaining, this would really be funny except you guys all have guns to act on your delusions.

        All Hail James “Demon Seed” Campbell!

  9. And this election has been an affront to the Rule of Law with many Democrat-controled cities throughout the country ignoring state and Federal election laws.

    This election needs a serious smackdown by the SCOTUS to protect the Rule of Law.

    If they don’t, the laws of the United States are meaningless and it will be all about who you know in positions of power.

    • I believe many of the laws of this country are meaningless to the left. They feelz they don’t have to abide by them because they don’t fit their narrative of “how things should be “.

  10. Here is a serious Republican strategy question:

    Should U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas (72 years old) and Samuel Alito (70 years old) immediately retire so that Republicans can replace them in the next six weeks with two people who are 20 years younger?

    As it stands, there is a very real possibility (in fact likelihood) that Biden wins the election. And we all know that a President Biden will promptly resign due to failing mental faculties and thus a Vice President Harris will become President. Assuming that happens, she (Kamala Harris) is guaranteed to win re-election simply because 80% of women in the United States want a woman to finally be elected President. As I said in an earlier comment a few days ago, 10s of millions of people could see Kamala Harris on live streaming video molesting young boys and eating human babies and the U.S. would still re-elect her. She simply cannot possibly lose re-election.

    With that very real possibility looming, Republicans’ next best chance to win the Presidency will not happen until 2028. And who knows if Republicans will actually win in 2028 — or if Republicans will have enough U.S. Senate seats to confirm any U.S. Supreme Court Justice nominations even if a Republican did win the Presidency (in 2028)? Furthermore, at that time Justices Thomas and Alito would be 80 and 78 years old respectively — who knows if they will even live that long?

    For the first time in something like 100 years there is a Conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court. There is a very real possibility that Conservative majority might only last another few years. Why not replace the two eldest Conservative Justices now and ensure (more-or-less) a Conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court for (hopefully) at least another 20 years? And talk about giving a giant middle-finger to Democrats!

    • Two things:

      1) Kamala Harris can easily lose reelection, just as Hillary Clinton didn’t make it over the finish line. Like Clinton, Harris is extremely unlikeable with a checkered history that doesn’t appeal to many people who would otherwise be her constituents. And as we’ve seen over just the past year, literally ANYTHING can happen to impact the probably results of an upcoming election.

      2) 70 and 72 are not very old, so I don’t have the fears you do. Not to mention, getting two new SCOTUS justices nominated and confirmed in six weeks while fighting a contentious legal challenge to a seemingly irregular election is simply not going to happen. To make the attempt would be madness – totally counterproductive.

      The court is as safe as we can make it for the next few years, and we should be glad of that, because we’re probably going to need it.

      • “The supreme court is as safe as we can make it for the next few years.”

        We should all keep in mind the sudden, unexplained death of Justice Scalia. No doctor examination, no autopsy, no legal investigation, immediate cremation and no reaction from “republican leadership”.

        They don’t need to “pack the court” they can always replace a setting justice.

        • “ sudden, unexplained death of Justice Scalia. No doctor examination, no autopsy, no legal investigation, immediate cremation and no reaction from “republican leadership”.”

          So why did all the Republican gun loving hunters in the club in Texas kill justice Scalia and cover up the murder?

        • The federal authorities jumped in and took over EVERY aspect of the situation after A Scalias death you idiot. This was the Obama white House.
          Check into the ranch owners political connections. Swampy ties.

    • Thomas is 72?

      I don’t think he has any interest in retiring, and now that there’s a majority on the court, I think he’s licking his chops at the prospect of ensuring the 2A gets the respect it deserves….

    • Were that to happen it would change the nature of the court and politics drastically and further erode the system. At what point do we have 18 year olds getting put on the court as long as they promise to do whatever the president and party tells them to do? There’s nothing stopping it… except norms.

      And those norms are collapsing and bringing everything down with them. At this point the opposite should be done to shore them up. First, limit the amount of justices to a specific amount (constitutionally) to prevent anyone from even trying to court pack. Second, they should probably just have terms at this point. We’ve lost any semblance of separation from politics anyway and it makes no sense to be basing crucial decisions about the country based on when someone happens to croak.

  11. It’s a very good thing when judges finally hear the screams. As the mob comes for them. Now they know that they are not untouchable. It’s a real possibility that they can be personally effected. This is very good for our country. Maintaining the Rule of Law is not just some kind of paper work action. It really does take the credible threat of deadly force to make potential criminals think twice.

    Protecting the 2A keeps that credible threat.

  12. Hey lawyer types. Watch the video!
    This Justice can deliver a killer laugh line with a stone cold face.

  13. If this country’s ag wasn’t a marshmallow filled sloth deepstate pos those senators would be sitting in a federal prison.

    • I could have sworn there was something in the campaign in 2016 about draining the swamp… so why would he have been appointed in 2019 if he is such a thing?

      Surely you’re not suggesting complete incompetence on the part of the President or that he was lying about ‘draining the swamp’ right?

      • Sometimes the people you hire doesent turn out to be the right person for the job or he screwed up hugely I don’t know. Seems to be a big swamp with a lot of slimy critters

  14. All gun control laws, each and every one are repugnant to the Constitution,the sooner the Left understand that fact the less butt hurt they will before not.

    • Green Mtn. Boy:
      Unfortunately the Constitution of the United States is what is repugnant to many leftwing true believers. I wish you could have seen the Project Varitas piece a few months back where an undercover reporter got a leftwing female college official to SHRED a copy of the Constitution in front of a hidden camera. That spoke volumes to me.

      • Really? What’s the matter with that? Are you under the impression that a copy of the Constitution is some manner of holy relic? I can print out another in 3 or 4 minutes, shred away!

  15. Please for the love of God fix the mistakes in the article. There were a few and it makes me think that you guys are relaxing a bit much…

  16. “Now, let me be clear, again, I’m not suggesting that the court’s decision was influenced by the senators’ threat.”

    Let me be clear — of course it was.

  17. I think the point missed here is that the justices should of held the 5 in contempt and charged them as overtly trying to both threaten and unlawfully influence the high court. Nipped in the bud as it happened. They do have that power. That should have not gone unchecked.

    • Should have jumped on that with both feet wearing their golf spikes. Letting them know that won’t be tolerated would have been the best thing to do. Let them get away with it once they will do it again

      • “Should have jumped on that with both feet wearing their golf spikes. Letting them know that won’t be tolerated would have been the best thing to do. Let them get away with it once they will do it again.”

        Given the aftermath of the letter, the five justices in agreement with the text tell us what we need to know.

        • Ain’t that the truth. I believe a big shift is coming to this country are it’s not going to be pretty. No matter how this whole election turns out. The rioting and assaults will intensify until people have had it. When that happens all hell will break loose. There won’t be enough le to keep up with it. Then the left will have what they have been dreaming of. They just don’t believe they can loose. In that scenario I don’t think the odds are on their side.

          • “I believe a big shift is coming to this country are it’s not going to be pretty.”

            Looking at history, when an empire gets fat, the people are content to hope they will be the last to be eaten by the bear. The US will go out with a wimper, not a bang. Like Rome.

        • Sam you may be right. It does appear that half the country is nuts, and many of the rest don’t give a f#$k.

    • They should have also ruled against the N Y gun control and also ruled that all of the gun control laws on the books are unconstitutional. That would have ole crying upchuck in tears !

  18. Of course the next step will be having leftist mobs commit actual violence against judges whose legal rulings they disapprove of.
    These rulings will be deemed “incitement to violence” by the MSM and completely justifies the mob violence.

    • Well, Trump has driven the deficit up with his poor management, your grandkids will be paying for his excess spending.

      “Federal spending under Barack Obama went from $2.98 trillion in George W. Bush’s last full fiscal year of 2008 to $3.52 trillion in the stimulus-weighted fiscal year of 2009, an increase for which Obama and the Democratic-controlled 111th Congress deserve the lion’s share of responsibility. Since the 44th president’s last full fiscal year of 2016 saw expenditures of $3.85 trillion, we can say that during his two terms of office—which included a major federal response to an economic crisis—annual spending went up by around $900 billion.
      Trump matched that increase in just one term before his own crisis hit.
      Fiscal 2017 featured spending of $3.98 trillion, with most of the $140 billion increase over the previous year coming under Trump’s sharpie. Then things really took off—$4.11 trillion in 2018, $4.45 trillion in 2019, and a whopping $4.79 trillion destination at the halfway point of fiscal 2020. And then came the pandemic.
      Discretionary spending—meaning that part of the budget (roughly one-third) requiring explicit congressional approval, as opposed to “mandatory” items such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—never topped $1.2 trillion during Obama’s second term. Trump’s wholly owned, pre-virus budgets saw the discretionary portions rise from $1.28 trillion to $1.36 trillion to $1.44 trillion.”

      • I believe there were two years the treasury brought in record numbers like $5 trillion under Trump ? Yes or no ?

  20. Yeah, slowjoes’ plans for shutting down US energy production, starting ANOTHER Solindra that spends billions and produces NOTHING, keeping all production of US products overseas, bailing out all the leftard run cities that are bankrupt due to lack of competent leadership, and extensive China Flu lockdowns should fix the budget problems. Almost forgot, multi million dollar deals for his family, friends and cohorts too.
    Right whiner?

    https://youtu.be/2q35PgSXhKg

    • “Ve gif you your country back now, Yankee dum dum. Ve use you like Slovenian sailor use town h00ker. Bye. Be best. Luv – Melanie

      “I really don’t care do U?

      • Don’t forget the planeloads of cash to fund terrorism, and the endless “police presence” of our military in countries that slojoe destabilizes with his leftard foreign policy. Be sure to put slowjoes’ brother in charge of spending the taxpayer money to rebuild the place after we bomb it to bits too.
        That should help the US of As bottom line.
        Right whiner?
        GFY!

      • Whiner if you don’t care then move out we won’t miss you. Try somewhere in the eu where you fit in. One more pansy a$$ mfer gone!

        • Really.
          Going back to buying crude oil on the world market will do wonders for our bottom line. Not to mention all the palms that will need greasing when the middle east slows production to skyrocket prices.
          Will slojoe be blowing to the Saudi royals like your lord and savior…..Broke Huessan O’bummer? 😳
          Inquiring minds want to know.

  21. And I woke up in a good mood! Their goes that! I wish I could say everyone was wrong. Are we taking an office pool on how long Joe will last before Harris has him put out of her misery? When he is knocked off, is she she eligible for two terms plus the remainder of his first? That could be a long time, they might run out of reasons to blame Trump for the horrible economy, but probably not. I’ve often heard after 3 years it’s all on the new administration.

    • “When he is knocked off, is she she eligible for two terms plus the remainder of his first? ”

      No more than ten years, total.

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