Address by Justice Samuel Alito:
Justice Samuel Alito addressed the Pandemic crisis, including the devastation to individuals other than medically, which is admittedly devastating.
He did not address the policies of lockdown, but individual freedoms embedded in the Constitution.
“The pandemic has resulted in unprecedented restrictions on individual liberty. ……We have never before seen restrictions so severe, so extensive and prolonged.
He explained how he objected to executives creating laws, referring to Governors, Mayors. Sweeping statutes enacted by executives have gone far beyond Constitutional empowerment, setting an alarming precedent of overreach by executives.
An example Judge Alito gives is the fact that religious libertie is fast becoming a disfavored right. Another example is the attack on the 2nd Amendment rights.
(See the speech below. Keep in mind, the precedents are addressing Constitutional rights, not necessarily making judgement of the issues)
Expectedly, Justice Samuel Alito was criticized by the liberal left who did not agree with the issues, not addressing the underlying argument of the chipping away of personal freedoms.
Elizabeth Warren is an example of the vitriol:
“Supreme Court Justices aren’t supposed to be political hacks. This right-wing speech is nakedly partisan. My bill to #EndCorruptionNow restores some integrity to our Court by forcing Justices to follow the ethics rules other federal judges follow.”
Warren stepped too far on the separation of powers built into the Constitution. Justice Alito fired back at liberal critics of the Supreme Court calling a 2019 brief filed by five Democratic senators “an affront to the Constitution and the rule of law” for suggesting that the court is a “sick institution” that may need to be restructured, according to WSJ
“Let’s go back to some basics: the Supreme Court was created by the Constitution, not by Congress, and under the Constitution we exercise the judicial power of the United States,” Justice Alito said in remarks to the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention.
“Congress has no right to interfere with that work any more than we have the right to legislate,” Justice Alito said.