Alito says Supreme Court can’t stem emergency appeals and voices concern
over Trump’s rhetoric
[October 07, 2026]
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito says the escalating
volume of emergency appeals before the court isn't a good thing, but he
adds there's little the court can do to change the trajectory.
The number of petitions asking the justices to intervene quickly has
skyrocketed during President Donald Trump's second administration,
putting the court at the center of hotly debated issues such as the
Republican president's new ballroom construction and his proposed
restrictions on mail ballots in the midterm elections.
The number of emergency applications now rivals the annual tally of
cases the justices consider with full briefing and oral arguments, Alito
wrote in a new book released Tuesday.
The justice told The Associated Press in a rare interview that the
rhetoric about the court from Trump and his administration doesn't sit
well with him.
“I personally am not pleased with that," he said. “Everybody in this
country has the right to criticize what we do. The substance of their
criticism can be quite harsh. If we deserve it, then that’s fine. But
rhetoric is a different story."
Alito spoke in connection with his first book, “So Ordered: An
Originalist’s View of The Constitution, The Court and Our Country.”
Coming 20 years after he was confirmed to the court after his nomination
by President George W. Bush, a Republican, the book is a collection of
speeches the 76-year-old has given over the years on religious liberty,
his judicial philosophy and constitutional rights.
Alito calls it ‘offensive’ to cast his opinions as MAGA
Alito is perhaps best known for writing the decision that reversed Roe
v. Wade and ended abortion as a nationwide right, and he has been one of
the most consistent members of the court’s conservative bloc. He’s also
voted in favor of some of Trump’s signature policies, even those the
rest of the conservative wing has struck down. But he rejects the idea
that his decisions are in the “Make America Great Again” camp.
“It’s offensive," he said. “I honestly try to decide every single case
on the merits, every single application on the merit. And that’s true
whether the president is Donald Trump or Joe Biden or Barack Obama or
anybody else.”
Trump, for his part, has cheered Alito as “one of the Greatest of All
Time” even as he maligned justices whom he appointed as “unpatriotic”
and “merely a shell of their original selves." Alito said the harsh
rhetoric from across the spectrum doesn’t affect how the justices rule
but does play a role in the public’s declining trust in the court.
“The terms used by presidents and by members of their administration,
Cabinet officers, other high-ranking officers in describing the Supreme
Court and their decisions, and sometimes individual justices, is far
different from what we saw 15 years ago," Alito said.
Much of the president’s frustration has come after the court ruled
against him on some of his central initiatives, including tariffs and
birthright citizenship. Those decisions have been handed down after
months of consideration, including oral arguments.
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Associate Justice Samuel Alito stands in his chambers at the Supreme
Court during an Associated Press interview, in Washington, Tuesday,
Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Surge in court's emergency decisions is likely ‘going to
continue’
In emergency decisions, by contrast, the president has a much
stronger track record of wins.
Typically made in days or weeks, emergency orders are designed to be
temporary, lasting only as cases continue to play out in lower
courts. But since that process can take years, those decisions can
still have important real-world consequences.
Critics, including Alito's liberal-leaning colleague Justice Ketanji
Brown Jackson, have complained about the court's recent handling of
the emergency docket and outlined proposed steps the justices could
take.
Alito, though, said there's little the court can do to stem the
tide. Presidents have increasingly used executive orders to enact
their policies rather than passing laws through Congress, leading to
lawsuits and “robust” decisions from lower-court judges that send a
case quickly to the Supreme Court, he said.
“Unless something changes there, and I don’t foresee it right now,
I’m afraid this is going to continue,” he said. “An application is
something that I think we have to rule on."
Alito says recusal from climate change case wasn't required but a
‘judgment call’
Alito also detailed his decision to step away from hearing a climate
change case that opened the term. Dozens of similar lawsuits have
been filed on whether cities can sue oil and gas companies over
damage linked to global warming. Billions of dollars could be at
stake, a potentially serious threat to the industry, according to
court documents.
Alito had faced calls to recuse himself because he owns stock in oil
companies. He told the AP that the stock came from an inheritance
his wife received from her father that she doesn’t want to sell.
He initially stayed on the case because he doesn't have stock in the
companies involved, he said, adding that the court’s legal office
agreed that he could hear the case under its ethics code.
But as he delved deeper into the substance of the case, he decided
to step aside.
“This particular decision was a judgment call,” he said. “I gave it
very, very serious consideration.”
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