Samuel Alito warns Democrats could ‘turn off the lights’ at Supreme Court by cutting funding

Source: New York Post

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.