US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts politely declines a meeting with Democratic senators over the ethics issues of his colleague Samuel Alito. He wrote in a letter on Thursday that this would raise concerns about the separation of powers and would itself create an appearance of impropriety.
“I must respectfully decline your request for a meeting,” Roberts wrote to Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.. Aside from “ceremonial events,” Roberts wrote: “Only on rare occasions in our nation’s history does a sitting chief justice meet with lawmakers, even in a public setting.”
The letter came in response to a request for a meeting from Durbin and Whitehouse, sent on May 23, following The New York Times’ reporting on the flags flying outside Alito’s two homes: one an upside-down American flag, the other a “call to Heaven” banner, both adopted by the far right and supporters of former President Donald Trump.
“By prominently displaying or allowing prominent symbols of the ‘Stop the Steal’ campaign outside his homes, Judge Alito clearly created an appearance of impropriety in violation of the Code of Conduct for Judges of the United States Supreme Court…which all nine judges adopted last year,” they wrote. “He also sowed reasonable doubt as to his impartiality in certain proceedings, which required his disqualification in those proceedings, as codified in the Code of Conduct and federal law.”
Last November, following reports that Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas had accepted gifts from wealthy Republican donors, the Supreme Court adopted a Code of Conduct that reads as one of five ethical canons: “A justice must avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all.” Activities.” Another canon states that judges “must refrain from political activities.”
In his own letter to senators, Alito blamed his wife for the display of both pro-Trump symbols outside their homes, which he claimed were not political in nature but a product of his wife’s was fond of waving flags’. But former neighbors and a police phone call contradict his claim that the inverted flag was a response to an interpersonal squabble, and not to the Jan. 6 insurrection and President Joe Biden’s upcoming inauguration, which Alito did not attend.
Alito said he would not recuse himself from cases involving Trump, including one involving his claim of immunity from prosecution.
Roberts wrote in his response to senators that he “believed” that Alito had already sent them a letter “addressing this subject.” He said it would be inappropriate to meet “leaders of only one party who have expressed interest in cases currently before the Court.” such a meeting would be inadvisable.”
