Sam Alito, a conservative justice, rejected a request from Senate Democrats on Friday to recuse himself from a pending tax case being heard at the Supreme Court.
Because one of the attorneys involved in the case, David Rivkin, had conducted two interviews with Alito for two pieces that were published in The Wall Street Journal, one of those who had questioned Alito’s participation was Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In a statement provided by the court, Alito stated, “There is no good cause for my recusal in this case.
In the interviews, Alito disputed accusations of ethical transgressions and questioned whether Congress had the authority to enact legislation on the subject.
Rivkin also represents Leonard Leo, a conservative legal activist whose testimony the Judiciary Committee has requested regarding ethical issues.
In the case Moore v. U.S., it is being debated whether it is lawful to require citizens to pay taxes on an interest in a foreign-owned business even though they have not received any income from it.
Charles and Kathleen Moore, who made an investment in a corporation with its headquarters in India, filed the lawsuit, and one of the attorneys battling it out with the federal government is Rivkin.
In his opinion, Rivkin’s participation in the interviews as a journalist, not an advocate, rendered “unsound” Durbin’s claim that he should disqualify himself due to Rivkin’s position, according to Alito.
“The case with which he was involved was never addressed; nor did we talk about any issue in that case, either directly or indirectly,” Alito wrote.
Alito’s announcement was attacked by Durbin, who claimed that the justice’s conduct was damaging to the court’s standing.
“The court is in a crisis of its own making,” he said in a statement, “and Justice Alito & the rest of the court ought to be doing all in their power to reclaim the public trust, not the opposite.”
Rivkin’s participation in the interviews when he had a matter before the court, according to Gabe Roth of Fix the Court, a judicial watchdog group, “raises concerns about ethics that seem apparent to everyone but Alito & require disqualification.”
Sheldon Whitehouse, a fellow Democrat from Rhode Island, complained about one of Alito’s interviews earlier this week, claiming that Alito made incorrect assertions about Congress’ ability to pass laws governing ethics.
According to Alito, there is no clause in the Constitution that grants them the right to control the Supreme Court.
Since a ProPublica investigation documented Justice Clarence Thomas’ acceptance of flights from Republican supporter Harlan Crow, which he had not declared in his yearly financial disclosure filings, the Supreme Court has been under increased scrutiny for possible ethics violations.
Although some members of Congress have advocated legislation, the court might resolve the matter on its own by adopting a binding code of conduct that is comparable to the one that judges on lesser courts abide by.