WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito says 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.
The number of petitions asking the justices to intervene quickly has skyrocketed during President Donald Trump's second administration, putting the court at the center of hotly debated issues such as the Republican president's new ballroom construction and his proposed restrictions on mail ballots in the midterm elections.
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Associate Justice Samuel Alito stands in his chambers at the Supreme Court during an Associated Press interview, in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Associate Justice Samuel Alito stands in his chambers at the Supreme Court during an Associated Press interview, in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Associate Justice Samuel Alito stands in his chambers at the Supreme Court during an Associated Press interview, in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Associate Justice Samuel Alito stands in his chambers at the Supreme Court during an Associated Press interview, in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The Supreme Court is pictured, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
The Supreme Court is pictured Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
FILE - Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito attends Pope Leo XIV's audience for operators of justice in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
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 released Tuesday.
The justice told The Associated Press in a rare interview that the rhetoric about the court from Trump and his administration doesn't sit well with him.
“I personally am not pleased with that," he said. “Everybody in this country has the right to criticize what we do. The substance of their criticism can be quite harsh. If we deserve it, then that’s fine. But rhetoric is a different story."
Alito spoke in connection with his first book, “So Ordered: An Originalist’s View of The Constitution, The Court and Our Country.”
Coming 20 years after he was confirmed to the court after his nomination by President George W. Bush, a Republican, the book is a collection of speeches the 76-year-old has given over the years on religious liberty, his judicial philosophy and constitutional rights.
Alito is perhaps best known for writing the decision that reversed Roe v. Wade and ended abortion as a nationwide right, and he has been one of the most consistent members of the court’s conservative bloc. He’s also voted in favor of some of Trump’s signature policies, even those the rest of the conservative wing has struck down. But he rejects the idea that his decisions are in the “Make America Great Again” camp.
“It’s offensive," he said. “I honestly try to decide every single case on the merits, every single application on the merit. And that’s true whether the president is Donald Trump or Joe Biden or Barack Obama or anybody else.”
Trump, for his part, has cheered Alito as “one of the Greatest of All Time” even as he maligned justices whom he appointed as “unpatriotic” and “merely a shell of their original selves." Alito said the harsh rhetoric from across the spectrum doesn’t affect how the justices rule but does play a role in the public’s declining trust in the court.
“The terms used by presidents and by members of their administration, Cabinet officers, other high-ranking officers in describing the Supreme Court and their decisions, and sometimes individual justices, is far different from what we saw 15 years ago," Alito said.
Much of the president’s frustration has come after the court ruled against him on some of his central initiatives, including tariffs and birthright citizenship. Those decisions have been handed down after months of consideration, including oral arguments.
In emergency decisions, by contrast, the president has a much stronger track record of wins.
Typically made in days or weeks, emergency orders are designed to be temporary, lasting only as cases continue to play out in lower courts. But since that process can take years, those decisions can still have important real-world consequences.
Critics, including Alito's liberal-leaning colleague Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, have complained about the court's recent handling of the emergency docket and outlined proposed steps the justices could take.
Alito, though, said there's little the court can do to stem the tide. Presidents have increasingly used executive orders to enact their policies rather than passing laws through Congress, leading to lawsuits and “robust” decisions from lower-court judges that send a case quickly to the Supreme Court, he said.
“Unless something changes there, and I don’t foresee it right now, I’m afraid this is going to continue,” he said. “An application is something that I think we have to rule on."
Alito also detailed his decision to step away from hearing a climate change case that opened the term. Dozens of similar lawsuits have been filed on whether cities can sue oil and gas companies over damage linked to global warming. Billions of dollars could be at stake, a potentially serious threat to the industry, according to court documents.
Alito had faced calls to recuse himself because he owns stock in oil companies. He told the AP that the stock came from an inheritance his wife received from her father that she doesn’t want to sell.
He initially stayed on the case because he doesn't have stock in the companies involved, he said, adding that the court’s legal office agreed that he could hear the case under its ethics code.
But as he delved deeper into the substance of the case, he decided to step aside.
“This particular decision was a judgment call,” he said. “I gave it very, very serious consideration.”
Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.
Associate Justice Samuel Alito stands in his chambers at the Supreme Court during an Associated Press interview, in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Associate Justice Samuel Alito stands in his chambers at the Supreme Court during an Associated Press interview, in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Associate Justice Samuel Alito stands in his chambers at the Supreme Court during an Associated Press interview, in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Associate Justice Samuel Alito stands in his chambers at the Supreme Court during an Associated Press interview, in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The Supreme Court is pictured, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
The Supreme Court is pictured Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
FILE - Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito attends Pope Leo XIV's audience for operators of justice in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday sought to reassure NATO ally Iceland that President Donald Trump's administration has no designs on the island but shares its deep concerns about Arctic security as tensions between the United States and Russia rise in the high north and elsewhere.
Rubio hailed the role of diplomacy in resolving conflicts as he began a three-nation tour of NATO allies in the capital of Iceland, where concerns over the Republican administration’s often brusque and sometimes rude approach to traditional friends and partners have stirred unease.
Rubio, whose tour of NATO members will include Greece and Portugal, met Tuesday with Icelandic Foreign Secretary Thorgerdur Katrín Gunnarsdóttir at Reykjavik’s Hofdi House, the site of the 1986 summit between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that is widely regarded as the beginning of the end of the Cold War.
“The house symbolizes diplomacy’s role in ending the Cold War and defeating communism,” Rubio posted on social media after the talks that took place just days before the 40th anniversary of the landmark meeting.
However, both Rubio and Gunnarsdóttir downplayed differences between the allies and said both countries were committed to deepening and expanding military and commercial ties. Rubio made clear that the United States would not do anything in Iceland without Iceland's consent.
“We would be open to having those conversations to see what we can do together,” he said, noting that the U.S. had a decades-long permanent military presence in Iceland until 2006, when shifting priorities caused it to close its Keflavik base outside of Reykjavik. He noted that priorities have shifted again.
And, he went out of his way to praise Iceland: “We have tremendous respect for the people. We have respect for the country in the role it plays, and it has for a very long time,” he said.
Iceland has been uneasy about Trump’s intentions toward it after the posting of a map showing the colors of the U.S. flag sprawling across all of North America and extending to Iceland and Greenland. The unease has persisted despite an agreement reached last month to increase the U.S. presence in the neighboring Danish territory of Greenland that appears to have ended Trump’s earlier demand for the U.S. to take full control.
But on Tuesday, after Rubio's talks with Gunnarsdóttir and Iceland's Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir, those tensions appeared to be on the wane.
Gunnarsdóttir said the matter had been largely, if not entirely, resolved. “We remain focused on the future," she said. Rubio, meanwhile, said he was not in Iceland to talk about social media posts. “Everything is very positive,” he said.
Before leaving Washington on Monday, Rubio said the visit is intended to “advance our shared priorities: a secure Arctic, stronger commercial and energy ties, and closer defense cooperation.” He offered no hint of tensions with the island that, while a NATO member, has no standing army.
The map incident, however, alarmed Icelanders, and in response, Gunnarsdóttir summoned U.S. Ambassador Billy Long to a meeting at which she made it clear the post was unacceptable.
Iceland, which is just 180 miles (290 kilometers) from Greenland, had already been on edge after Trump mistakenly named the country four times while speaking about Greenland.
Long, a colorful former Missouri congressman, IRS commissioner and professional auctioneer, also has made waves in Iceland. Before he took up his post in August, thousands of Icelanders signed a petition urging the prime minister to reject him after he made a crack earlier this year about Iceland becoming the 52nd U.S. state and making him governor. He has since apologized for the quip.
Long is not the first Trump ambassador to Iceland to have raised concerns with the host government. In Trump’s first term, Ambassador Jeffrey Ross Gunter left locals in relatively crime-free Reykjavik aghast over his request to hire armed bodyguards, which prompted complaints.
At Rubio’s next stop in Athens, he may be dealing with another ambassador controversy. Rep. Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat who is the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said last week that he would investigate allegations of misconduct and impropriety by the U.S. ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle.
In a letter to Rubio, Meeks said that he wanted answers following the allegations reported by The Wall Street Journal last month and that he would call for Guilfoyle’s dismissal if the behavior outlined in the news report was true.
The Journal reported that Guilfoyle told guests at a reception that the U.S. could undermine the Greek government if it chose to, promoted the business interests of one particular Greek construction and energy company, and allowed its lobbyist into private diplomatic meetings.
Some Greek opposition parties have called for an inquiry into the allegations, but it's unclear if they will proceed.
Guilfoyle, a former Fox News Channel host and California prosecutor who was once engaged to Trump’s son Donald Jr., has denied any wrongdoing, and Rubio has defended her before.
Guilfoyle, Rubio said after the Journal story appeared, “has been an incredible advocate for the president’s agenda in Greece and across Europe.” Rubio said he and Trump greatly value the ambassador’s “pivotal work and leadership,” notably on energy issues.
The Trump administration sees Greece as key to advancing the promotion and export of U.S.-produced liquefied natural gas to Southeastern and Central Europe.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio boards a plane Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, at Keflavik Airport in Iceland. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)
U.S. ambassador to Iceland Billy Long attends a joint press conference held by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Iceland's Foreign Minister Thorgerour Katrín Gunnarsdottir at the House of Collections, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, in Reykjavik, Iceland. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)
Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir attends a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the House of Collections, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, in Reykjavik, Iceland. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a press conference with Iceland's Foreign Minister Thorgerour Katrín Gunnarsdottir at the House of Collections, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, in Reykjavik, Iceland. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a press conference with Iceland's Foreign Minister Thorgerour Katrín Gunnarsdottir at the House of Collections, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, in Reykjavik, Iceland. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a press conference with Iceland's Foreign Minister Thorgerour Katrín Gunnarsdottir at the House of Collections, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, in Reykjavik, Iceland. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives at Keflavik Airport, Iceland, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is welcomed by Iceland's Foreign Minister Thorgerour Katrín Gunnarsdottir, center, and by Chief of Protocol Helga Hauksdottir, as he arrives at Keflavik Airport, Iceland, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026.(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, is welcomed by Iceland's Foreign Minister Thorgerour Katrín Gunnarsdottir, center, and William Long, the U.S. Ambassador to Iceland, as he arrives at Keflavik Airport, Iceland, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)
