WASHINGTON (CN) — Dozens of congressional Democrats urged Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Tuesday to sit out of cases involving former President Donald Trump’s claims of presidential immunity and any other high court action related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
In a letter to the justice, the group of 45 lawmakers accused Alito of demonstrating “at least an appearance of a conflict of interest” related to Jan. 6, when rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to interrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
A New York Times report last week revealed that an upside-down American flag — often used as a protest symbol by “Stop the Steal” election deniers — was seen flying over Alito’s Virginia home on Jan. 17, 2021, just days after the riot. The justice has said that his wife hung the inverted flag in response to a political dispute with a neighbor.
Regardless, House Democrats led by Georgia Representative Hank Johnson slammed Alito for associating himself with a symbol of election denial, writing that it was “incontrovertible” that the upside-down American flag had been adopted by “Stop the Steal” activists at the time.
“Even if you had ‘no involvement’ in the display yourself,” they said, referring to Alito’s contention that his wife was responsible for flying the flag, “the fact of such a political statement at your home creates, at minimum, the appearance of improper political bias.”
The Democrats argued Alito may have violated the terms of the Supreme Court’s recently adopted ethics guidelines, which prohibit justices from engaging in political activity. The lawmakers also pointed out that the framework requires the justices to recuse themselves from proceedings where their impartiality may be questioned — although they acknowledged that the new ethics standards are non-binding and lack an enforcement mechanism.
Given Alito’s decision to allow a symbol of election denial to fly above his home, the Democrats contended that he should step away from Supreme Court deliberations on Trump’s claim that he should be immune to prosecution over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. The justice should also recuse himself in a similar case about whether the government can charge Jan. 6 rioters with obstructing official proceedings, the lawmakers wrote.
“Reasonable people will doubt that you can be impartial in deciding whether Mr. Trump should face criminal prosecution for his actions arising from the “Stop the Steal” movement,” they told Alito.
Pointing to similar conduct involving Justice Clarence Thomas, whose wife Ginni was involved in efforts to overturn election results, the Democratic lawmakers posed Alito’s recusal as necessary to protect the high court’s integrity.
“Undoubtedly, public trust and confidence in the Supreme Court is in shambles, which jeopardizes our democracy and the rule of law upon which it is based,” the lawmakers wrote. “[I]t is essential that the court attempt to bolster the public’s trust in the integrity of the court.”
Tuesday’s letter comes just days after Johnson and a group of House Democrats announced the formation of the Court Reform Now task force, a congressional working group advocating for legislative action on issues such as high court ethics and judge shopping.
Speaking at a news conference last week, the Georgia lawmaker accused the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority of “usurping both legislative and executive authority” with judicial activism and a series of decisions which he argued ignore precedent in favor of political results.
In the Senate, Democrats have for months heaped pressure on the high court over the ethically dubious conduct of some justices, including Alito and Thomas. Both justices have been mired in controversy amid reports that they failed to disclose lavish vacations and other gifts provided to them by wealthy conservative benefactors.
The upper chamber’s Judiciary Committee last year approved Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act, which if made law would force the court to draft a binding code of ethics in the public eye. The legislation, which enjoys the support of the House’s newly formed court reform group, has yet to get a vote in the full Senate.
However, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a fierce advocate for Supreme Court ethics reform, has signaled that his panel will not conduct any oversight on a “Stop the Steal” symbol over Alito’s home.
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