WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts declined an invitation Thursday to meet with Democratic senators to discuss Supreme Court ethics and the controversy over flags flown outside homes owned by Justice Samuel Alito.
Roberts’ response came in a letter to senators, a day after Alito wrote to them and House members separately to reject their demands that he withdraw from major Supreme Court cases involving former president Donald Trump and the January 6 rioters were involved because of the flags, which are like those carried by rioters in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-I., a member of the Judiciary Panel, had written to Roberts a week ago asking for the meeting and that Roberts steps would take to ensure that Alito recanted. to recuse from any cases in court related to the Jan. 6 attack or the Republican former president’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
“I must respectfully decline your request for a meeting,” Roberts wrote.
Judges decide for themselves when to waive cases, Roberts noted. Alito said he did not conclude anything about the flags, which he said were flown by his wife outside their homes in Virginia and New Jersey, that necessitated his denial.
Last year, Roberts declined to testify at a Judiciary Committee hearing on Supreme Court ethics, and he made the point Thursday, saying chief justices have rarely met with lawmakers.
“Furthermore, the proposed format – a meeting with only leaders of one party who have expressed interest in cases currently before the court – simply underlines that participation in such a meeting would be inadvisable,” he wrote.
Both Alito and another conservative judge, Clarence Thomas, have rejected calls to recuse themselves from cases related to the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Thomas’ wife, Ginni, supported the efforts to overturn the election results.
Public confidence in the Supreme Court is at its lowest point in at least fifty years.
The justices are considering two key issues related to the attack on the Capitol, including the charges the rioters face and whether Trump has immunity from prosecution on election interference charges.
