Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has retaliated against Democrats in Congress who want to enact legislation to limit the court’s power.

A few weeks after Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, presented the measure to the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 20, he spoke with The Wall Street Journal.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, which is controlled by Democrats, approved the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act (SCERT) of 2023, which Republicans assert is unconstitutional.

Before the proposal could be signed into law by President Joe Biden, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives would need to approve it. It is unknown whether or when the entire Senate will vote on the legislation, and even if they do, it is unlikely to pass.

The measure would require the Supreme Court to establish and implement its own code of conduct, requiring the Justices to recuse themselves from certain cases, a decision they currently make on their own.

In addition, the Justices would be required to disclose their income, gifts, and paid travel.

If the bill is passed, the public would be able to file complaints against specific justices, which would then be arbitrated by a panel of five subordinate court judges.

Any citizen would be able to file a motion to dismiss a judge from a case.

The Supreme Court is “the only court in the country, perhaps the only court in the world, with no ethics process at all,” Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said at a committee hearing on July 20 when he introduced the legislation.

“Then came the news that six politically active right wing-billionaires have been paying household expenses, engaging in financial transactions, and providing massive secret gifts of travel and hospitality for at least two justices,” the senator said.

“We are here because the highest court in the land has the lowest standard of ethics anywhere in the federal government. And justices have exhibited much improper behavior, not least in hapless efforts to excuse the misdeeds,” he said.

In an interview with The Journal, Justice Alito addressed the court’s critics and the notion that Congress could or should exercise oversight.

“Congress did not create the Supreme Court”—the Constitution did, the Justice said.

“I know this is a controversial view, but I’m willing to say it,” he said. “No provision in the Constitution gives them the authority to regulate the Supreme Court—period.”

He was making reference to the Constitution’s Article III, Section 1, which states: “The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.”

Republicans have asserted that the clause gives Congress the authority to control and even abolish lower courts, but that the Supreme Court is exempt from this authority.

And the only branch that would arbitrate a dispute over this would be the judicial branch, with the Supreme Court making the final determination.

“I don’t know that any of my colleagues have spoken about it publicly, so I don’t think I should say. But I think it is something we have all thought about,” he said.

“I marvel at all the nonsense that has been written about me in the last year,” the Justice said.

“The traditional idea about how judges and justices should behave is that they should be mute” while facing political criticism, and that others, especially “the organized bar,” should stand up for them.

“But that’s just not happening. And so at a certain point I’ve said to myself, nobody else is going to do this, so I have to defend myself,” he said.