this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito no doubt intended to shock the political world when he told interviewers for the Wall Street Journal that “No provision in the Constitution gives [Congress] the authority to regulate the Supreme Court — period.”

Many observers dismissed his comment out of hand, noting the express language in Article III, establishing the court’s jurisdiction under “such regulations as the Congress shall make.”

But Alito wasn’t bluffing. His recently issued statement, declining to recuse himself in a controversial case, was issued without a single citation or reference to the controlling federal statute. Nor did he mention or adhere to the test for recusal that other justices have acknowledged in similar circumstances. It was as though he declared himself above the law.

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[–] [email protected] 197 points 1 year ago (8 children)

No part of the Constitution gives the Supreme Court the power of judicial review either. The court created that power out of nothing. If you wanna get pissy, Alito.

[–] [email protected] 78 points 1 year ago

Or sovereign immunity, absolute immunity and qualified immunity. They're just shit the court made up.

[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago (2 children)

He seems to think he's above the Constitution. Probably thinks he's Judge Dredd.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

To the iso-cubes with them

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I can't tell you how happy I am to see someone point this out here.

As if the ridiculous set of laws we have weren't bloated enough already, the nearly bottomless stack of court cases that modify them all and stack on each other make it impossible to have a fair trial.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's telling that the people who want to eliminate the Executive Departments because they don't have Constitutional authority to create laws have been silent on Judicial Review.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

And he always wants to get pissy.

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[–] [email protected] 80 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Dissolve the court. Arrest Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh - the crimes committed by those four are known to the public. Appoint a special investigator for each remaining justice. If they've so much as taken a stick of chewing gum from someone with business before the court imprison them too. Every one of them is delinquent in their duty to preserve the impartiality and legitimacy of the court. Every one of them has cosigned Alito's statement that the court is above regulation. Every one of them endorses this clown show where the highest court in the land is blatantly, publicly for sale. If they won't protect the legitimacy of the court we need to take steps to protect the legitimacy of the court from them. They can declare themselves immune from prosecution but no one is immune from the will of a people united in their support for real justice.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hey I thought we had rules against porn here

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

Dissolve the court, arrest reverendsteveii

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (4 children)

At least 59 people think this is a high quality post or more likely just agree with it.

no one is immune from the will of a people united in their support for real justice

How do you intend to enforce that will? While you aren't saying it outright it almost sounds like you are thinking about grabbing a red hat and storming the building.

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[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Add more justices to the court. Then Alito's opinion will not matter so much.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The Judiciary Act of 1869 sets the size of the Supreme Court at 9. Congress would have to pass a law to make that happen.

In order:

The Republican controlled House won't vote for it.

Republicans in the Senate would filibuster it.

Democrats in the Senate will never get rid of the filibuster because they love their procedural excuse for breaking campaign promises.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yes but according to Alito, Congress has no power over the supreme court so that act is moot and anyone can just make up a number.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I'm going to say n- and r-words here. National referendum.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Wheew. I thought you were going to say National Razor.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Congress will never agree to give up anymore power than the other branches already take.

Short of a Constitutional Convention we will never see this passed. Unfortunately, a Constitutional Convention is a dangerous game even when we are less divided as a nation. The last one produced a new constitution instead of edits to the old one.

Could you imagine what a constitution would like like if it was written by the current bunch of goobers running the country?

[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 year ago

Sounds like Alito is having a mental break with reality and needs round the clock psychiatric care to ensure his safety. Clearly unfit to sit on any court.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The Supreme Court should be elected by popular vote and have to be reconfirmed by the states every four years.

[–] [email protected] 84 points 1 year ago (6 children)

One national election every four years is enough for me. I can't even imagine what the campaigns for judges with the power to rewrite the Constitution through creative interpretation would look like, but if they can put Trump in the White House, they could put him on the Supreme Court.

Term limits. Active oversight. Maybe go back to requiring 60+ votes to confirm so the GOP can't shove the Federalist Society hack-of-the-day through with a simple majority.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The problem with requiring 60 plus votes is that it's would be open season for the GOP to prevent nominations, then the second they had the Senate again, they'd remove the rule. Just like they did the last time.

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 1 year ago (9 children)

No. Judges should not be political. I don’t know the answer here, but being an elected official isn’t the right course.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, if anything their selection needs to be further removed from the political process.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Maybe the supreme Court should be like jury duty. Randomly select from a pool of judges from around the country to fill the position for a certain period of time.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's always going to be political, they just pretend to be above it.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Judges should not be political

Judges are already absolutely political. Judges get appointed based on whether they'll support the policy agenda of the person appointing them. Being said, I'm with you inasmuch as giving the people who made Donald Trump president the power to pick the supreme court all by themselves is a bad fucking idea.

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[–] [email protected] 54 points 1 year ago (3 children)

That's how you get Trump on the Supreme Court. Elected justices is not great.

My solution is ~16 year terms spaced out like Senate terms, where if the person dies or retires the appointment just fills out their term, and each presidential term gets an appointment or two. Removes the benefit of appointing someone young so we can have more experience on the court.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (7 children)

My country solved the problem by having 9 years non renewable terms and requiring a 2/3 majority in the parliament to elect a judge. This avoids them thinking they are the state and prevents any hyper partisan hack from entering the court. Of course this is only possible because none of the major parties is trying to make the state implode but it works well.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

9 justices 18 year terms. Staggered so that every 2 year election cycle 1 justice is up for election by popular vote. Required to be member of Bar in at least one state.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago

Remember, the supreme court thinks regulation means well armed.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Congress gives a major check on the Supreme Court: they’re the only branch without access to the military. They can make their decisions, and they can attempt to enforce them. But they oughta remember that they’re the ones with no sway on enforcement

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's what SCOTUS seems to miss. Their entire power comes from the belief in their authority. If Congress or the Executive Branch chose to ignore their ruling, they can't do anything.

The danger with the Supreme Court was never that they would make awful rulings that we'd follow. It was that they would make rulings so awful that we'd have little choice but to reject their authority, creating a system without the checks of the court.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

Abolish the Supreme Court.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

Why would he ever bluff? He holds all the cards!

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I see more and more crazy stuff happening in the US. Will there be any actual change or are we just going to see more crazy?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Don't let the media portrayal of the current times affect you reality. Most of the stuff going on now has been going on forever and will continue to go on forever.

Take the faithless electors. There have been a total of 58 elections in which 165 electors have not cast their vote as the state prescribed. This first Wikipedia quotes was in 1835

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faithless_elector

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago
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