'You are not above the law': Lawmakers hit back at Alito's bid to avoid regulation

At least two lawmakers on Friday hit back at Samuel Alito over the Supreme Court justice’s suggestion that the nation’s highest court is above congressional scrutiny.

“What a surprise, guy who is supposed to enforce checks and balances thinks checks shouldn’t apply to him. Too bad!” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted after Alito was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article suggesting that Congress has no oversight role over the Supreme Court.

“Corruption and abuse of power must be stopped, no matter the source. In fact, the court should be *most* subject to scrutiny, bc it is unelected & life appointed.”

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Ca.) tweeted: “Dear Justice Alito: You’re on the Supreme Court in part because Congress expanded the Court to 9 Justices.”

“Congress can impeach Justices and can in many cases strip the Court of jurisdiction. Congress has always regulated you and will continue to do so. You are not above the law.”

Alito said to the WSJ in comments that inspired the blowback that, “Congress did not create the Supreme Court”—the Constitution did.”

“I know this is a controversial view, but I’m willing to say it,” he says. “No provision in the Constitution gives them the authority to regulate the Supreme Court—period.”

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David B. Rivkin Jr. and James Taranto write for the WSJ that “The political branches have other weapons they could deploy against the court. The Constitution doesn’t specify the number of justices, so Congress could pack the court by enacting legislation to expand its size. Last week a pair of leftist law professors issued an ‘open letter’ urging President Biden to ‘restrain MAGA justices’ by applying their rulings as narrowly as possible. The day the court decided Biden v. Nebraska, striking down Mr. Biden’s student-loan forgiveness plan, the president announced that he was undertaking legally questionable alternatives.”

Alito warned that erosion of confidence in the Supreme Court could have unintended consequences.

“If we’re viewed as illegitimate, then disregard of our decisions becomes more acceptable and more popular. So you can have a revival of the massive resistance that occurred in the South after Brown.”