Reps. Jamie Raskin and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez need Supreme Courtroom Chief Justice John Roberts to reply some questions.
On Friday, the highest two rating Democrats on the Home Oversight Committee despatched a letter to Roberts over “renewed concern about Justice Samuel Alito’s apparent refusal to abide by the Supreme Court’s Code of Conduct or constitutional and statutory guarantees that cases be heard by impartial judges.”
The lawmakers cite a current New York Instances report that Roberts made the bizarre selection to exchange Alito, who had been assigned to write down a majority opinion about prosecutors overreaching after they charged some Capitol rioters with obstruction.
In response to the Instances, Roberts determined to take over writing the bulk opinion himself for the Fischer v. United States case. This transfer occurred shortly after studies surfaced about Alito and his spouse flying an upside-down American flag—a logo of the “Stop the Steal” motion following the 2020 election.
Regardless of many requires Alito to recuse himself from any “Stop the Steal” insurrection-related instances, the justice refused and supplied a sophomoric letter defending his place.
The Democrats’ letter on Friday additionally notes that friend-to-billionaires Clarence Thomas and his spouse Ginni even have well-documented ties to the riot motion, that are equally problematic.
“Your own conduct, in taking the ‘highly unusual step’ of removing Justice Alito as the author of the Fischer opinion last May, just days after the public learned that he repeatedly flew flags and banners supportive of the January 6 insurrectionists, strongly suggests you recognized that Justice Alito’s conduct presented a situation in which the Justice’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned,” Raskin and Ocasio-Cortez write.
“Yet by taking the half measure of replacing him as the opinion’s author, instead of requiring him, as well as Justice Thomas, to recuse wholly from the matter, you allowed the Court to violate and defy federal law, the Constitution, and its own Code of Conduct,” in response to the lawmakers.
Raskin and Ocasio-Cortez ask Roberts to reply a sequence of questions as to his decision-making course of within the matter:
1. Did you, as Chief Justice, make the choice to exchange Justice Alito because the drafter of the Fischer opinion?
a. When did you achieve this and what was your foundation for doing so? Did public reporting that Justice Alito and his partner displayed flags and banners supportive of the insurrectionists and the “Stop the Steal” motion play any function on this choice?
b. When and the way did you change into conscious that Justice Alito and his partner displayed flags and banners supportive of the insurrectionists and the “Stop the Steal” motion each in January 2021 and in the summertime of 2023?
c. Have been there every other people concerned in making the choice to exchange Justice Alito because the drafter of the Fischer opinion? Did you talk about this choice with every other sitting or retired Justice of the Supreme Courtroom?
d. How was the choice conveyed to Justice Alito?
2. Did you will have any conversations with Justice Alito or Justice Thomas about whether or not both’s participation in instances involving January 6 defendants was according to the Supreme Courtroom’s Code of Conduct, federal legislation, or the Structure? Specifically, did you will have any dialogue with Justice Alito or Justice Thomas about recusing from instances involving January 6 defendants?
3. Did you will have any conversations with any sitting or retired Justice of the Supreme Courtroom about whether or not the participation of Justice Alito or Justice Thomas in instances involving January 6 defendants was according to the Supreme Courtroom’s Code of Conduct, federal legislation, or the Structure?
Roberts has not but commented on the letter, in response to The Hill.
