Alito says Supreme Court can’t stem emergency appeals and voices concern over Trump’s rhetoric

WASHINGTON (AP) – Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito notes the escalating volume of emergency appeals before the court isn't a good thing, but he adds there's little the court can do to change the trajectory.

What happened

In practice, the number of petitions asking the justices to intervene rapidly has skyrocketed during President Donald Trump's second administration, putting the court at the center of hotly debated matters such as the Republican president's new ballroom construction and his proposed restrictions on mail ballots in the midterm elections.

Meanwhile, the number of emergency applications now rivals the annual tally of cases the justices consider with full briefing and oral arguments, Alito wrote in a new book published Tuesday.

The bottom line

In short, alito says Supreme Court can't stem emergency appeals and voices concern over is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.