Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, issued a statement Thursday urging Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself from President-elect Trump’s criminal hush-money case.
In his argument, Raskin reports that Alito and Trump spoke by phone “just hours” before Trump’s legal team asked the Supreme Court to intervene to halt a criminal sentencing in a New York case involving hush money payments before the 2016 election. pointed out.
“Judge Alito is concerned about his political leanings toward the next president, whether he flies flags in clear support of the January 6 insurrectionists and the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement, or whether he is an ideological fighter calling himself the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement.” and clearly expressed support. Raskin wrote in a statement:
“In our democracy, Americans expect their cases to be heard by fair judges. “This concept of fairness goes back further than the court’s own code of conduct and is even based on early versions of federal recusal laws,” he continued.
Raskin said Alito confirmed the phone call but that he and Trump did not discuss Trump’s emergency motion to halt the sentencing.
Instead, Alito said in a statement that one of Alito’s former law clerks had asked him to “take a call regarding President-elect Trump’s qualifications for a government position.”
Alito added, “I agreed to discuss this with President-elect Trump and he called me yesterday afternoon.” “We did not discuss the emergency motion he filed today, and in fact, at the time of our conversation, we were not even aware that such a motion would be filed.”
But Raskin said receiving such a call “makes it clear that he either fundamentally misunderstands the basic requirements of judicial ethics or believes he is above judicial ethics, especially with regard to his partisan ideological activities in support of Trump.” “he said. entire.”
“In a situation where the president-elect has an active interest in a matter currently pending before the court, a personal phone call with him is sufficient to trigger a situation in which a justice’s impartiality could reasonably be questioned,” Raskin said. “he said.
“Every federal judge and justice knows that situations like this must be avoided. But Justice Alito did not,” Raskin continued. “Impartial justice under the Constitution requires Justice Alito to adhere to the highest ethical standards and avoid even the appearance of impropriety.”
“In light of the continued display of political bias and subsequent abuse of public trust, Justice Alito followed the Constitution, federal law, and the Supreme Court’s own Code of Conduct in Donald J. Trump v. New York, et al., when the matter is actually referred to the full court.”
