Democratic senators urging chief justice to act on Alito recusal after flag controversy
Two Democratic senators are seeking a meeting with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. after photos revealing that two separate flags carried by rioters at the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol had flown outside houses owned by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, wrote to Roberts asking that he meet with them to discuss Supreme Court ethics and steps to ensure that Alito, a fellow conservative, recuses himself from any cases before the court concerning the Jan. 6 attack or former President Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
“We request a meeting with you as soon as possible, in your capacity as Chief Justice and as presiding officer of the Judicial Conference of the United States, to discuss additional steps to address the Supreme Court’s ethics crisis,” Durbin and White-house wrote to Roberts on Thursday in a letter released Friday by their offices.
The senators’ letter comes as another conservative justice, Clarence Thomas, has ignored calls to recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election over his wife, Ginni Thomas’, support for efforts to overturn Trump’s election loss — and as public trust in the Supreme Court is at its lowest point in at least 50 years.
The court did not respond to a request for comment regarding the letter.
Photos showed an upside-down flag at the home of Justice Alito. He says he is a victim of unfair attacks.
The court is considering two major cases related to the Capitol attack, including charges faced by the participants and whether Trump has immunity from prosecution on election interference charges. Alito is participating in both cases and has rejected calls from Democrats in the past to recuse himself on other issues.
The New York Times reported that an inverted American flag was seen at Alito’s home outside Washington less than two weeks after the attack on the Capitol.
Last week the paper reported that an “Appeal to Heaven” flag was flown outside the justice’s beach home in New Jersey last summer.
Both flags were carried by rioters who violently stormed the Capitol in January 2021, echoing Trump’s false claims of election fraud and attempting to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory.
Alito has said that the inverted American flag was flown by his wife amid a dispute with neighbors, and that he’d had no part in it. He and the court declined to respond to requests for comment on the “Appeal to Heaven” flag.
Judicial ethics codes focus on the need for judges to be independent, avoiding political statements or opinions on matters they could be called on to decide. The Supreme Court had long gone without its own code of ethics, but it adopted one in November 2023 in the face of sustained criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices.
Justice Antonin Scalia’s impact on the Supreme Court includes forging the way for justices to accept free trips —something that has entangled Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.
The code lacks a means of enforcement, though, and the Judiciary panel approved legislation last year that would set stricter standards. But Republicans have been staunchly opposed to any efforts to tell the court what to do.
Durbin and Whitehouse’s appeal for a meeting is a new approach after Roberts declined to testify at a hearing on Supreme Court ethics last year.
“Until the Court and the Judicial Conference take meaningful action to address this ongoing ethical crisis, we will continue our efforts to enact legislation to resolve this crisis,” they wrote.
Jalonick writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Mark Sherman and Lindsey Whitehurst contributed to this report.
Chief Justice Roberts says the ethics rules depend on the justices using ‘good judgment.’ Thomas is testing that theory.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
