Team,

By now, you are probably aware of the news about Justice Alito and the freebie luxury fishing vacation in Alaska arranged for him by Court-capture operative Leonard Leo.

Before ProPublica posted its exposé about the trip, Justice Alito took to the Wall Street Journal editorial page in an odd attempt to get ahead of the unfavorable news. A few of the arguments he used to try to defend his choices about the undisclosed trip:

• He had a “modest room” at the fishing lodge and ate “homestyle fare.”
• He accepted transportation on a private jet (a trip valued at around $100k each way) because the “seat would have otherwise been vacant.”
• He had only spoken with right-wing billionaire Paul Singer, who took him on the trip, on “a handful of occasions, and never about cases.”

Well, Singer's hedge fund later ended up before the Supreme Court, and the Court's decision resulted in a $2.4 billion payday for the company. Justice Alito didn't recuse himself from the case.

The American people see right through the excuses — they know there is a problem here. Passing my Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act would finally put some basic ethical guardrails in place at the Court.

The Supreme Court needs an ethics overhaul. I’m fighting to clean up this mess at the Court and bring the Justices into alignment with the rest of the federal courts and other branches of government. Will you chip in what you can today to support my work in the Senate?

Thank you,

Sheldon Whitehouse

 

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