As Dems Ready To Take Power, Alito Warns Of Threats To Judicial ‘Independence’

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is sounding the alarm about potential efforts by a soon-to-be Democrat-run Congress to undermine the judiciary’s longstanding “independence.” The warning came during Alito’s appearance at The Federalist Society’s annual Antonin Scalia Memorial Dinner on Thursday. The senior justice was interviewed by Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway, who published a bestselling biography about him earlier this year. “Congress can turn off the lights at the Supreme Court and stop everything from happening if they want to defund their activities. And there are many, many, many other things that they can do, or at least try to do,” Alito told Hemingway. The Bush 43 appointee further underscored the importance of “preserv[ing] the independence of the judiciary.” “If that is eliminated,” he said, “then the Constitution as adopted in 1789 will no longer be the same.” Had the pleasure of interviewing Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito about America250 and his jurisprudence tonight at the Federalist Society’s Scalia dinner. pic.twitter.com/5Fjr8AfBL2— Mollie (@MZHemingway) November 13, 2026 While not specifically mentioned, the justice’s comments appear to be in reference to last week’s Democrat midterm victories, and the party’s ongoing threats against the high court and its conservative majority. [READ: Democrats’ War Against The Supreme Court Is About To Get Even Worse] Throughout the past several years, Democrats, with help from leftist-funded propaganda firms like ProPublica, have launched a series of phony “ethics” smears against Alito, Clarence Thomas, and the other conservative justices. In doing so, the party has sought to dishonestly paint the court (and its decisions) as corrupt and lay the groundwork for its ultimate aim: court-packing. Numerous Democrats — including incoming congressional leaders and potential 2028 presidential candidates — have recently ramped up calls for increasing the high court’s number of justices. Despite claims to the contrary, the goal of this scheme is to stack the court with left-wing activists who will rule based on what’s favorable for Democrats instead of what law calls for. [RELATED: Here’s Where Every Major Democrat Senate Candidate Stands On Packing SCOTUS] Among the other issues addressed by Alito during Thursday’s discussion was that of judicial power. While agreeing with the notion that the judiciary is the “least dangerous” branch and “vulnerable” to the other branches, the justice cautioned that judges can also abuse their authority. Lower court judges “are dedicated and they are skillful, but they’re not perfect and they make mistakes,” Alito said. “And in some instances, I think they have gone far astray in abuse of their powers.” The comments are seemingly in reference to lower courts’ overreaching rulings against the Trump administration. Alito and several of his colleagues have previously chastised some of these judges for such antics in the high court’s recent decisions. Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood