Senate Democrats are furious that President-elect Trump has reached out to conservative Justice Samuel Alito amid a push by Trump for the high court to halt his criminal sentencing.
Alito has repeatedly angered Democrats over reports that he took expensive trips hosted by wealthy donors and that his wife flew flags signaling her political rooting interests at two of their homes.
Now, Democrats are warning Alito and other court conservatives not to interfere in Trump's criminal sentencing.
“I think Supreme Court justices have to take care to avoid impropriety and appearance of impropriety, and this sort of conversation at this moment and time appears to be improper,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Alito acknowledged speaking with Trump on Tuesday but said the two discussed a former clerk who is seeking a position in the new administration — not Trump’s emergency application to halt his criminal sentencing in New York on Friday.
But Democrats say the conservative justice shouldn’t have spoken with the president-elect at all.
“Alito should have used more caution and good judgment and avoided the conversation. Too many questions are raised,” Durbin said.
“[Chief Justice] John Roberts should take heed that this is his court. His name is associated with it, and what they’re doing is fast and loose when it comes to ethics,” Durbin continued, pointing to a report the panel released in December — while Democrats still held the Senate majority — about trips taken by the late Justice Antonin Scalia during his tenure on the court.
Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas have been at the forefront of a pressure campaign by Democrats in recent years amid a string of reports about lavish gifts and trips both have received throughout their tenures on the high court.
ProPublica reported in 2023 that Alito did not disclose that a conservative billionaire who eventually had business before the court paid for a private jet flight on which Alito was a passenger. Alito argued that he was not under an obligation to disclose the trip.
His political activities also came to the forefront after it emerged that his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, flew an upside-down American flag at their home in Alexandria, Va., in the days surrounding Jan. 6, 2021, and President Biden’s inauguration.
All of this led to a push by Judiciary Democrats for the Senate to pass a code of ethics for justices. That effort was stonewalled at every turn by Republicans, who have defended Roberts’s handling of the situation.
In response to reports of the trips, Roberts and the justices adopted a code of conduct in late 2023, which was meant to codify existing principles but was “not new,” according to the justices.
Democrats, however, say that the code, which the justices must self-enforce, has little impact.
Nevertheless, Justice Alito’s call with Trump has only heightened concerns ahead of the president-elect’s inauguration in less than two weeks.
“It looks sketchy. They call it ex parte communication,” said Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Judiciary panel. “That’s the question — what did they talk about?”
“Alito’s got a pretty aggressive track record of sketchy ethical behavior,” he continued. “He’s got the flag incident. It’s the separation of the judiciary from the executive. It’s the classic separation.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a frequent critic of Alito and other conservative justices, told reporters that Alito has “no shame” and likened Trump’s relationship to the court as one he’d have with an agency within the administration.
“It's perhaps unsurprising, but no less shocking,” he said. “Donald Trump treats this court with such disrespect. But it is more glaring and dramatic evidence about the need for a
code of conduct that’s enforceable.”
Alito told The New York Times that he accepted the call at the behest of William Levi, one of his former law clerks who is under consideration for a position in the administration. He added he was not aware Trump’s lawyers were filing an emergency application to delay sentencing for his New York hush money conviction.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called Alito’s conversation with Trump about the ex-clerk while Trump is trying to get the Supreme Court to halt his criminal sentencing “highly inappropriate.”
“Sam Alito knows that and obviously he doesn’t care. This is one more sign that at least some on the Supreme Court do not respect the traditional ethics that avoid the appearance of impropriety,” she said. “What Alito’s done is wrong.”
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), another member of the Senate Judiciary panel, said “it’s concerning that the incoming president would look at any of these institutions as something that he should have some kind of control, influence over.”
