One of the most conservative members of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is now directly speaking out about President Donald Trump's ever-expanding executive powers.
Newsweek reported Monday that during a recent interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra, Justice Samuel Alito – who was appointed by former President George W. Bush in 2006 — spoke with disdain about Trump wielding executive power "very aggressively." The longtime conservative jurist observed that Trump's actions have resulted in a significant higher workload for him and his colleagues.
"[There has been] an inclination by presidents to try to do more and more and more, using their own power, or what they believe to be their own power," Alito said.
"And now, under President Trump, it's just gone on like this, and he's used his executive power very aggressively," he continued. "And what we have seen since the beginning of his second term, since January, is that so many of these things that he has done are immediately challenged in court. We have 680 district court judges. A district judge says ‘it's unconstitutional, or it's unlawful’, and then the case comes to us as an emergency matter."
Alito didn't blame Trump alone for pushing the boundaries of the executive branch. The Bush-appointed justice noted that former President Barack Obama leaned heavily on executive orders due to the difficulty of passing laws through Congress. Alito then acknowledged that during Trump's first term, he escalated executive power considerably, and that former President Joe Biden did the same with student loan forgiveness, mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations and a temporary moratorium on foreclosures and evictions during the pandemic.
"What has happened over the course of the 20th century is that Congress has delegated its authority to the executive branch," Alito said. "And right now, because of the polarization in the country, it's almost impossible to get things through Congress. So as a result, the executive agencies make most of the law. If you look at the end of any year, and if you just stacked up all the regulations that they've issued and compare that to laws Congress has passed, the regulations are many, many times bigger."
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, Alito and the other five members of SCOTUS' conservative bloc have been reliable allies for the Trump administration, as SCOTUS consistently sides with Trump on matters that come before the Court. Many of SCOTUS' pro-Trump decisions have come from the Court's emergency docket (also known as the "shadow docket"). In October, the Brennan Center found that of the 24 shadow docket rulings concerning the Trump administration's actions, the Court has taken Trump's side at least partially in 20 of them, and seven of those rulings came with no explanation.
Stanford University political science professor Adam Bonica came to a similar conclusion in his research; between May and June of 2025, lower courts ruled against the Trump administration's actions 94.3 percent of the time, siding with plaintiffs suing the White House in 82 of 87 cases. But during those same two months, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the administration 93.7 percent of the time in 15 of 16 cases.
Click here to read Newsweek's full report.
