Republicans Defend Justice Samuel Alito After Another Ethics Bombshell Drops
WASHINGTON ― Republicans are waving off ethics questions surrounding another Supreme Court justice, Samuel Alito, after it was revealed that he accepted an undisclosed trip from a GOP megadonor who had business before the court.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday that Congress should “stay out” of the court’s business after ProPublica reported that the conservative justice accepted a luxury fishing vacation from wealthy benefactors.
“I think it’s part of an assault on the conservatives because the left doesn’t like their decisions,” added Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
According to the investigative journalism nonprofit, Alito took a luxury trip to Alaska in 2008 aboard a private jet chartered by hedge fund billionare Paul Singer that was arranged by Leonard Leo, a prominent conservative figure who was then head of the Federalist Society. The trip was not reported on Alito’s financial disclosure forms, and Alito did not recuse himself when Singer’s businesses later had issues before the court.
Alito disputed the nature of the report in a highly unusual opinion piece published by The Wall Street Journal hours before ProPublica’s investigative article was made public. The justice downplayed his relationship with Singer and denied any wrongdoing.
Alito said Singer allowed him “to occupy what would have otherwise been an unoccupied seat on a private flight to Alaska,” describing his $1,000-a-day lodge stay as a “modest” one-room unit where he ate meals that were “homestyle fare.” He also said he didn’t know Singer was a party to any cases brought before the court, even though his involvement in some of the businesses was reported by the U.S. news media at the time, according to ProPublica.
Republican senators also downplayed Alito’s involvement with Singer on Wednesday.
“I thought his response was accurate and on point,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said. “If he knew that Singer had a business and Singer’s name was associated with it, then he might have considered recusing himself, but he had no way of knowing that Singer was associated with any matter before the court.”
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said that it is easy for members of Congress to second-guess actions by Alito “15 years after” the trip occurred.
“I think we should respect the fact they are a separate branch and allow [Chief Justice John Roberts] to lay out the best path forward,” Rounds said.
The ProPublica report comes amid growing calls for ethics reform at the Supreme Court following revelations about similar lavish trips taken abroad by Justice Clarence Thomas. Earlier this year, ProPublica detailed decades of lavish trips Thomas took with the billionaire Harlan Crow, who footed the bills for travel that included private jets and a yacht, and a real estate deal in which Crow bought property from the justice and his family. Thomas’ mother still lives rent-free in one of the homes Crow bought.
Senate Judiciary chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) announced Wednesday that his committee would move forward with legislation to impose more rigorous ethical standards for the court after lawmakers return from their July 4 recess.
“To think a justice on the court, who is supposedly an academic and is so learned, gives such weak arguments, I think is a real surprise,” Durbin said, criticizing the way Alito downplayed the trip in his Wall Street Journal op-ed.
“Chief Justice Roberts could solve this problem this afternoon. He could establish a code of conduct in the responsilibites of his justices to disclose everything and be done with this,” the senator added.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), another Judiciary Committee member, was even more blunt, calling the ProPublica report “absolutely abhorrent.”
“He has no sense of compunction or shame that maybe somebody has a right to question him. It seems like a very smug and superior attitude that indicates that he thinks he’s answerable to no one,” Blumenthal added of Alito.
The Democrats’ ethics proposal calls for establishing an enforceable code of conduct for the Supreme Court, which exists for lower-ranking members of the federal judiciary. It would also require more stringent reporting and transparency requirements. Only one GOP senator, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, has indicated interest in requiring the court to establish an ethics code.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said Wednesday that the Supreme Court “probably should” consider increasing its ethics standards given falling public support for the institution, though he left it up to the court whether to ultimately do so.
“It’d be helpful to know which of the nine justices is opposed to even having that discussion. I’m hearing it requires unanimous consent,” Tillis told HuffPost.
“I think that they would do well to go and take a look at public perceptions and recognize, even if you don’t think it’s going to change any specific future behaviors by the court, that people are raising legitimate questions, and it could be solved by them moving forward with their own self-enforcement ethical standards,” he added.
