Senate Judiciary Democrats wrote a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts demanding that Samuel Alito withdraw from future cases involving tax and ethics issues after the judge told Congress not to deal with the court’s cases to interfere.
“Congress did not create the Supreme Court,” Alito said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “I know this is a controversial position, but I’m willing to say it. No provision in the Constitution gives them the power to regulate the Supreme Court – period.’
Senate Democrats accused the conservative judiciary of violating existing ethical rules with the interview.
Democrats in Congress passed legislation to impose new ethics rules after a series of reports of judges accepting lavish vacations and other perks that involved potential conflicts of interest.
Dick Durbin, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, wrote that Alito had violated the court’s statement of ethics and principles by “by adjudicating the constitutionality of legislation under consideration by the U.S. Senate.” Alito likely violated an ethics statement the court released in April by “creating an appearance of impropriety in the minds of reasonable members of the public.”
Senate Judiciary Democrats wrote a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts demanding that Samuel Alito, above, withdraw from future cases involving tax and ethics issues after the judge told Congress not to deal with the cases of to interfere in court
Dick Durbin, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, wrote that Alito had violated the court’s statement of ethics and principles by “by adjudicating the constitutionality of legislation under consideration by the U.S. Senate.” Alito likely violated a court ethics statement.
The Democrats also noted that one of the Wall Street Journal’s interviewers, David Rivkin, is representing the plaintiffs in a tax case that will be heard before the Supreme Court next term – Moore v. United States.
‘Mr. Rivkin’s access to Judge Alito and efforts to help Judge Alito express his personal grievances may cast doubt on Judge Alito’s ability to perform his duties fairly in a case where Mr Rivkin represents one of the parties,” said Durbin, arguing that Alito should not decide. tax cases.
But Roberts does not have the power to order Alito to withdraw under the current rules – Alito can only choose to withdraw himself.
The Democratic-led Senate Judiciary Committee last month approved a bill that would force the Supreme Court to adopt stronger ethics policies.
Last month, Alito went to war with ProPublica after the publication released a report revealing Justice enjoyed a luxury fishing expedition to Alaska, likely worth tens of thousands of dollars, courtesy of a Republican mega-donor.
Alito did not shy away from cases involving the billionaire’s companies on multiple occasions when they later went to court.
Rather than respond to investigative news site ProPublica when his reporters asked him for comment, Alito chose to go on the offensive.
On Tuesday night, he labeled the unpublished report “misleading” with his own legal account of the trip, which appears to reflect growing anger among judges that their integrity is being questioned.
ProPublica has filed two charges against me: first, that I should have declined in cases where an entity associated with Paul Singer was a party and second, that I was required to list certain items as gifts on my 2008 Financial Disclosure Report ,” he wrote in an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal.
“Neither charge is valid.”
Leonard Leo, center, on the 2008 fishing trip with a guide and other guests. He is a key player in guiding conservative judicial figures to banks across the country
In July 2008, Judge Samuel Alito (center) traveled to Alaska thanks to billionaire conservative donor Paul Singer (right) and stayed in a luxury fishing cabin that charged more than $1,000 a night. They are seen here with another guest in a photo obtained by ProPublica
Meanwhile, a series of revelations about ties between Judge Clarence Thomas and a Texas billionaire coincide with a sharp fall in public confidence in the nation’s Supreme Court.
Hours after Alito’s rebuttal was posted Tuesday night, ProPublica published its scoop,
It features a photo of a radiant Alito holding a monster King Salmon alongside billionaire Singer during their July 2008 trip.
The hedge fund manager flew Justice to Alaska on a private jet — a trip that could have cost as much as $100,000 had Alito paid for it himself, the report said.
He stayed in a commercial fishing cabin owned by another prominent businessman. Three years earlier, that same figure received Judge Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016.
ProPublica said reporting of Alito and Scalia’s trips included examining planning emails, fishing permits for Alaska and interviews with dozens of people, including private jet pilots, fishing guides, former senior employees of both Singer and the owner. from the lodge, and other guests on the trips.
And it said Alito didn’t report the trip at his annual unveiling.
During the trip, ProPublica said the group flew on one of the lodge’s planes to a waterfall in Katmai National Park. That night they dined on Alaskan king crab legs or Kobe fillet.
At the last dinner, a guest bragged that they drank $1,000 bottles of wine, according to a tour guide.
In the years that followed, Singer’s hedge fund was involved in multiple legal battles, including at least 10 that ended up in the Supreme Court.
In 2014, he won a decade-long battle with Argentina when the court voted 7-1 in his favor, winning $2.4 billion in the process. Scalia did not withdraw from the case and voted by majority.
In his pre-emptive response, Alito insisted that he was under no obligation to retreat.
“My recollection is that I have spoken to Mr. Singer on no more than a handful of occasions, all of which (with the exception of a chat on a fishing trip 15 years ago) consisted of short and casual remarks at events attended by large groups,” he wrote. he.
“On no occasion have we discussed the activities of his companies, and we have never discussed any case or issue in court.”