https://www.wsj.com/articles/alito-defends-the-courts-11605309587?mod=opinion_lead_pos1
Pundits and academics have worried a great deal about democratic norms in recent years, but most have gone silent when it comes to progressive assaults on judicial independence. So credit to Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for delivering a forceful repudiation of recent efforts to intimidate American courts.
Justice Alito’s Thursday address came at the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention, a wide-ranging event that included spirited debate on presidential power, intellectual property law, social justice and more. The conservative-leaning Federalist Society is above all a forum for open intellectual exchange, but it’s increasingly stigmatized by progressive activists, perhaps out of resentment for its commitment to principle.
Justice Alito spoke against a recent effort to “hobble the debate that the Federalist Society fosters” by barring judges from membership. Attacks on the Federalist Society have gone along with more explicit threats to judicial independence. Earlier this year Sen. Chuck Schumer stood in front of the Supreme Court and declared, “I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price.”
This came after five Democratic Senators threatened in a 2019 amicus brief that the Supreme Court could be “restructured” if it didn’t rule their way in a gun case. Justice Alito addressed that directly.