During an interview with Fox News, Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito discussed how certain responses to the COVID-19 pandemic may have threatened the rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
As he prepared for the upcoming release on October 6 of his new book, “So Ordered: An Originalist’s View of the Constitution, the Court, and Our Country,” Alito sat down with “Fox News Sunday” host Shannon Bream. They talked about various cases throughout his career and his views on their constitutional implications.
Bream brought up a virtual speech Alito delivered on November 12, 2020, to the Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention. In that address, he criticized the pandemic restrictions, describing them as leading to “previously unimaginable restrictions on individual liberty.” While he emphasized that he wasn’t downplaying the virus’s threat to public health or expressing an opinion on whether the restrictions were justified, Alito maintained that it was undeniable that the restrictions were the most severe and extensive witnessed in American history. He referred to these measures as a “constitutional stress test.”
Some critics suggested that Alito’s comments reflected a partisan viewpoint.
In response, Alito reiterated during the interview that he indeed viewed the pandemic as a “stress test” for Americans’ constitutional rights.
“I think it was a stress test of our constitutional rights,” Alito remarked. “It put our loyalty to those rights, our commitment to those rights, to a real test.”
“One unfortunate revelation was that many were willing to deprioritize certain rights, particularly the freedom of speech and the right to practice religion,” he observed. “Many seemed ready to place those rights behind other concerns.”
The case Bream mentioned, Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley v. Steve Sisolak, Governor of Nevada, resulted in a 5-4 Supreme Court decision denying a request for an emergency injunction from a rural church in Nevada. This church contended that Governor Sisolak’s order limiting attendance at worship services to 50 was a violation of their religious freedoms.
In an April 2020 press conference, Sisolak stated, “I have spent countless hours praying on this myself and talking to faith leaders. My primary purpose is to keep people alive and stop the spread of this disease.”
Alito wrote a dissenting opinion criticizing the Nevada government’s apparent double standard, noting that while churches faced severe restrictions, businesses such as casinos, restaurants, and gyms were allowed to operate at 50% capacity.
“I found the example of the casinos telling,” Alito explained. “The governor had said the casinos are open, and there were photos of people in those casinos not wearing masks, while at the same time, a strict limit was placed on attendance at houses of worship, regardless of their size.”
