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In interviews at the start of the new Supreme Court term, Justice Samuel Alito expressed concern<\/a> about what he called \u201ca concerted effort to intimidate the court.\u201d<\/p>\n In rare interviews that coincided with the beginning of the Supreme Court\u2019s 2026-2027 term,<\/a> and the release of his first book, \u201cSo Ordered: An Originalist\u2019s View of the Constitution, the Court and Our Country,\u201d Alito pushed back on criticism of the court from both the Biden and Trump administrations and reiterated his belief in its function as a pillar of a constitutional system.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s damaging. I think it can be quite damaging. There\u2019s been a great change in what presidents have said about the court when they are unhappy about our decisions,\u201d he told CBS in an interview that aired over two days, Oct. 4 and 5, regarding some of the rhetoric from elected officials about the court. \u201cBut the criticism of the court \u2014 I want to be even-handed on this. The criticism of the court \u2026 by President Biden and his administration was very harsh. And President Trump has been very harsh.\u201d<\/p>\n More broadly, Alito told Fox in an interview that aired Oct. 4, \u201cThere has been a concerted effort to intimidate the court \u2014 and justices on the court \u2014 to try to influence us to decide cases differently from the way in which we have been deciding them and I am concerned about the future of the court.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s an important institution and it has not always done the right thing, but I think on the whole it has been fundamental in protecting our constitutional structure and the rights that all Americans enjoy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n During its 2025-2026 term, the high court issued major rulings striking down President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order limiting birthright citizenship, rejecting Trump\u2019s sweeping tariff policy, but also permitting the Trump administration to reimplement a policy of turning away asylum-seekers along the U.S.-Mexico border before they enter the country, known as \u201cmetering,\u201d and to end a temporary designation that shielded eligible Haitian and Syrian immigrants living in the U.S. from deportation.<\/p>\n The new term began as Trump criticized the justices for ruling against his position in some of those cases. In an interview with Time published Oct. 1, Trump lashed out about the cases he saw as losses, and said he regretted selecting the three justices he nominated to the high court during his first term.<\/p>\n But Alito, a Catholic who is seen as one of the court\u2019s key conservatives, appeared undeterred.<\/p>\n \u201cI put all of that out of my mind. I trust that my colleagues put all of that out of their minds,\u201d Alito told Fox News Sunday in response to a question about the president\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n Alito was the author of the Supreme Court\u2019s Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization decision that overturned the high court\u2019s previous abortion-related precedents in Roe v. Wade (1973) \u2014 which established a constitutional right to abortion nationwide \u2014 and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) \u2014 which reaffirmed Roe.<\/p>\n A leak of the draft of the Dobbs decision in May 2022 is seen as the most significant breach of the court\u2019s confidentiality in its history.<\/p>\n Alito told CBS he was \u201cstunned\u201d by the leak.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was quite a shock,\u201d Alito said. \u201cBut within a relatively short period of time, the thought occurred to me, and I think to the others in the majority, that this would endanger us. And it made us targets for assassination.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/a>