Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Boarded Aircraft Owned by Paul Singer

Senate Democrats have strongly criticized Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for not disclosing his trip on a private plane owned by hedge-fund billionaire Paul Singer as a gift. Alito had traveled with Singer to a luxury fishing excursion. The trip occurred six years before Alito ruled in favor of an arm of Singer’s hedge fund Elliott Management in a major case regarding debt repayments from Argentina. ProPublica reported this information on Tuesday night. Alito argued in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal that he had no obligation to recuse himself from any of the cases involving Singer’s companies.

Alito claimed he was unaware of Singer’s connection to the companies involved in the Supreme Court cases, and even if he had known, he believed it would not have affected his impartiality. ProPublica, however, pointed out that Alito may have violated the financial disclosure law, as it requires the disclosure of gifts of private jet flights. Experts have also stated that they could not identify a situation where a justice ruled on a case after receiving an expensive gift from one of the parties involved.

Senator Dick Durbin, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, described Alito’s defense as “laughable.” Durbin called on Chief Justice John Roberts to establish a code of ethics for the Supreme Court, which currently lacks one. Senator Richard Blumenthal called Alito’s conduct “egregious” and believed he should be held accountable for breaking the law. Durbin and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, the Chair of the Subcommittee on Federal Courts, announced their intention to draft legislation for ethics guidelines for the Supreme Court in response to this situation.

Earlier, ProPublica reported on the luxurious trips received by Justice Clarence Thomas from billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow, raising similar concerns about conflicts of interest. CNB requested comment from the Supreme Court regarding ProPublica’s reporting on Alito.