Samuel Alito is Wrong – the Supreme Court Needs A Code of Ethics!
Petition to Congress:
Congress must pass the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act NOW. Supreme Justice Samuel Alito recently told the Wall Street Journal that Congress has no “authority to regulate the Supreme Court—period.” The arrogant statement comes after months of revelations of ethics scandals around Justice Alito, Justice Thomas, and all the court’s other conservatives. Alito is dead wrong – the Supreme Court can and must be bound by a code of ethics.
After months of shocking revelations of Samuel Alito’s ethics scandals, the Justice arrogantly told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that Congress has no authority to regulate the Supreme Court with a code of ethics.1
It’s no surprise that Alito doesn’t want to be bound by ethics rules. In June, we learned Alito accepted luxury trips from Paul Singer – a billionaire and Republican megadonor who has brought business before the Court. Alito failed to disclose the elaborate gifts, and refused to recuse himself in cases involving Singer.2 The new WSJ article itself is further evidence of Alito’s corruption: the writer of the fawning interview is a high-powered conservative lawyer who is arguing a major case in front of the Supreme Court this fall.3
Despite what Justice Alito thinks, the Senate is finally moving forward with establishing a Supreme Court code of ethics. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act (SCERT). We now need to tell Congress to support SCERT and impose ethics standards on this out-of-control court. 3
WSJ’s puff piece on Alito – entitled “Samuel Alito, the Supreme Court’s Plain-Spoken Defender” – also allowed the Justice to defend the Court’s recent extremist, right-wing rulings. Praising his role in overturning legal abortion, Alito specifically noted that Roe v Wade was a case that was “so egregiously wrong, so clearly wrong” that he had to overrule it despite decades of precedent.2
Alito’s ethics scandals have been well detailed over the past months. He failed to recuse himself in cases involving his billionaire friend Paul Singer, including the recent overturning of President Biden’s student debt relief plan. Alito also voted to gut environmental protections while his wife was cutting real estate deals with the fossil fuel industry. A conservative legal group with business in front of the Court flew the Justice out to Rome, Italy last year.4
The Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act would finally require SCOTUS justices to follow an ethics code, strengthen restrictions on judicial gifts and privately funded travel, overhaul the broken recusal process, and more. Congress must start restoring faith in our courts and enact this Supreme Court code of conduct NOW.
Sources:
- Wall Street Journal, “Samuel Alito, the Supreme Court’s Plain-Spoken Defender,” July 28, 2023.
- ProPublica, “ Justice Samuel Alito Took Luxury Fishing Vacation With GOP Billionaire Who Later Had Cases Before the Court,” June 20, 2023.
- Washington Post, “Alito says Congress has no authority to police Supreme Court ethics,” July 28, 2023.
- CNN, “Alito in the hot seat over trips to Alaska and Rome he accepted from groups and individuals who lobby the Supreme Court,” June 22, 2023.