Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito suggested Thursday night that a Democrat-controlled Congress could effectively shut down the nation’s highest court by cutting its funding—raising fears for the judiciary’s independence following last week’s midterm elections.
Congress can “turn off the lights at the Supreme Court and stop everything from happening,” Alito, 76, told the Federalist Society’s annual Antonin Scalia Memorial Dinner.
The conservative justice argued that the judiciary is the weakest of the three branches of government, since its members are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, while Congress also controls the purse strings.
“If the independence of the judiciary is eliminated, the Constitution as adopted in 1789 will no longer be the same,” Alito warned.
While Alito did not directly reference the midterm results or the shift in congressional power, Democrats have spent years pushing for changes to the Supreme Court following a series of controversial decisions on abortion, presidential power and federal regulatory authority.
Among the proposals Democrats have floated are expanding the number of justices, imposing term limits and establishing stricter ethics requirements. Some liberal lawmakers have also suggested using Congress’ spending power to pressure the conservative-majority court into adopting reforms.
While the Constitution protects justices from having their salaries reduced while they remain in office, Congress controls the court’s appropriations and can influence funding for its staff, operations and facilities.
Over the summer, Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett made a rare appearance before lawmakers to make the case for additional security resources following a growing number of threats.
The Supreme Court currently has a 6-3 conservative majority, with Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas among its most senior conservative members.
Efforts by lawmakers to use the court’s budget as leverage are not new. In 2023, a group of Democratic senators proposed withholding $10 million in Supreme Court funding until the justices adopted stricter ethics requirements. The court later introduced its first formal code of conduct, though critics argued it lacked meaningful enforcement mechanisms.
Alito also took aim Thursday at lower-court judges who have issued orders blocking presidential actions in recent years, accusing some of them of going too far in their use of judicial authority.
“They are dedicated and they are skillful, but they’re not perfect and they make mistakes,” the justice said. “And in some instances, I think they have gone far astray in abuse of their powers.”
“If you think about a hand grenade, a 500-pound bomb and a nuclear weapon,” he added. “the hand grenade is the last dangerous. But that is not to say that it is not dangerous.”
