Conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito believes that a lot of the lower court judges were “unjustified” in blocking President Trump’s policies.
Alito made the comments during a speech at the Federalist Society’s annual Antonin Scalia Memorial Dinner on Thursday, The Hill reported.
“They 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.”
Alito didn’t address Trump’s attacks on judges who make decisions against him or specify what he thought constituted abuse of power.
As Politico Playbook noted, the justice said nothing about Trump’s calls to impeach judges who have ruled against him. Those calls were serious enough that Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare public statement in March 2025, after Trump demanded the impeachment of U.S. District Judge James Boasberg. Impeachment, Roberts wrote, “is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”
Lower courts have blocked Trump’s efforts to limit mail-in voting, his attempt to end birthright citizenship, the building of his ballroom for the White House, and more. It’s highly questionable for Alito to consider those orders “unjustified,” but not surprising from one of the most right-leaning justices.
In two of those cases, Alito’s own colleagues sided with the lower courts.
In June, the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s birthright citizenship order 6-3, upholding more than a century of precedent. The order never took effect after lower courts blocked it. Alito dissented, calling the ruling “a serious mistake.”
In September, the high court refused to let Trump’s mail ballot restrictions take effect for the midterms, with voting already underway, keeping in place an order from U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts. The majority said the administration was unlikely to succeed. Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas were the only justices to publicly dissent.
The ballroom was halted in March by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, who, like Alito, was appointed by President George W. Bush.
“The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!” Leon wrote.
Trump has not taken those losses quietly. Ahead of the birthright citizenship ruling, he used his Truth Social platform to lash out at “dumb judges and justices.”
Alito, 76, is the court’s second-oldest justice and has served on the bench since 2006. He delivered his remarks to a crowd of more than 1,000 conservative lawyers.