Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito used rare public remarks Thursday to weigh in on everything from the use of artificial intelligence in the courts to the rise of the so-called ‘emergency docket’ appeals – even as he maintained that in his view, the judiciary is the least dangerous form of government.
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judiciary → use → government
Speaking to Mollie Hemingway at the Scalia Memorial Dinner, Justice Alito spoke easily as he mulled what he described as the biggest the challenges for the high court, as it looks to address both institutional concerns as well as the uptick in cases brought to the high court via the so-called ‘emergency docket.’
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it → speak → docket
Asked about the ‘shadow docket,’ or the process by which presidents can seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court, Alito attributed the sharp uptick in cases to two things.
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Alito → ask → things
‘The first is that presidents have become very frustrated with their inability to get Congress to enact their wider legislative agendas, and so they have looked for ways to do as much as they can unilaterally, with their own powers,’ he said.
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he → become → powers
The second, Alito said, was the rise of lawsuits brought by both political parties to district courts across the country.
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Alito → say → country
Today, he noted, there are 680 district judges in the US.
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he → note → US
‘They are dedicated and they are skillful, but they are not perfect,’ he said.
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he → say → ?
‘They make mistakes.
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They → make → mistakes
And in some instances, I think they have gone too far.
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they → think → instances
Earlier in the evening, Alito compared the three branches of government to a ‘hand grenade,’ a 500-pound bomb, and a nuclear weapon, to make the point that the federal judiciary is the least dangerous branch – though not entirely free from threats.
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judiciary → compare → threats
The hand grenade ‘is the least dangerous, but that’s not to say it’s not dangerous,’ Alito said.
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Alito → ’ → ?
Justice Samuel Alito said he believes the Supreme Court's first issue lies with 'very frustrated' presidents unable to get Congress to 'enact their wider legislative agendas'
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Congress → say → agendas
Alito compared the three branches of government to a ‘hand grenade,’ a 500-pound bomb, and a nuclear weapon, to make the point that the federal judiciary is the least dangerous branch
The remarks come as Alito, 76, has sought to dispel rumors that he is weighing retirement before the end of the term and said he believes he can 'still make a contribution'
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he → compare → contribution
The federal judiciary, he said ‘is the least dangerous branch,’ he said, ‘which is not to say that it cannot be dangerous when it moves astray.’
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it → say → ?
At another point, Alito compared the change in public discourse to his lifelong status as a Phillies fan.
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Alito → compare → fan
'For a time,' he remembers, 'it really was our national pastime,' and people of all walks of life 'could talk about,' engage 'and disagree' in a friendly way.
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people → remember → way
That’s changed now, Alito says – both because people are both interested in a wider degree of sports.
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Alito → change → sports
Which is a good thing, he says, but has also led to a loss of unity of sorts – which he suggested hampered the ability of Americans 'to disagree well.'
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he → say → Americans
The public remarks come as Alito, 76, has sought to dispel rumors that he is weighing retirement.
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he → come → retirement
Alito, a George W Bush appointee, has used a spate of recent interviews tied to his the release of his recent book to reiterate that he has no plans to leave before the end of the term.
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he → use → term
Retirement is 'something I think that somebody at my age has to think about every term,' he told CBS News' Jan Crawford earlier this year.
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he → think → Crawford
The thought among some had been that Alito's retirement would give Trump room to nominate another justice to the Supreme Court - though Alito previously rejected that notion outright - saying that politics was 'not a factor' in his thinking.
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politics → give → thinking
Rather, Alito said, 'I think I can still make a contribution.'
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I → say → contribution
'And it's hard to give up the opportunity to do something that I think will be good for the Constitution and good for the country as long as I'm able to do it.'
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I → give → it
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