Samuel Alito: You Can't Always Trust Judges

The Supreme Court heard arguments on Thursday in a case that could limit the scope of rulings by federal judges, and Samuel Alito made a point that might not sit well with many of them:

• "There are 680 district court judges, and they are dedicated and they are scholarly ... but, you know, sometimes they are wrong," he said, reports the Guardian. At issue is whether the ruling of a federal judge can be applied nationwide, not just in the judge's jurisdiction.
• Alito described such judges as "monarchs of their realm," per USA Today. They "are vulnerable to an occupational disease, which is the disease of thinking, 'I am right and I can do whatever I want.'"

• The arguments were heard in two-pronged case that stems from President Trump's push to rescind birthright citizenship—the idea that anyone born in the US is entitled to citizenship. "Several of the justices appeared torn between two concerns," writes Abbie VanSickle in the New York Times. "They appeared skeptical that single district judges should have the power to freeze executive actions throughout the country"—as three did in this case. "But they also seemed troubled by the legality" of Trump's executive order, which runs contrary to the long-held interpretation of the 14th Amendment.
• When all was said and done, "it was not entirely clear how the court would resolve" the two separate issues, per CNN. Justice Elena Kagan, for example, "seemed to articulate the views of several of the justices when she said that although many of them had 'expressed frustration' about the way that lower courts were 'doing their business,' the case before them was 'very different' from the typical case," writes VanSickle.
• Trump himself weighed in on the matter on social media, arguing that times have changed. The original concept of birthright citizenship more than a century ago applied to the "babies of slaves," he wrote on Truth Social. Back then, "we didn't have people pouring into our Country from all over South America, and the rest of the world."

(More Supreme Court stories.)