John, did you see this story from the New York Times?

The Supreme Court heard three January 6th-related cases last term. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinions in each one—including an unsigned one in March concluding that Donald Trump could not be barred from election ballots in Colorado despite his conduct on and before January 6, in the 14th Amendment case that we brought on behalf of Colorado voters.

But it’s another case that’s now attracting renewed scrutiny.

In April, the chief justice assigned the writing of a majority opinion in Fischer v. United States to Justice Samuel Alito. That opinion held that prosecutors had gone too far in bringing obstruction charges against some Capitol rioters. But in late May, the chief justice took it over.

Why the change? There isn’t a clear reason, John, but the switch came days after news broke that an upside-down flag–a symbol of the Stop the Steal movement–was flown outside the Alito home following the Capitol attack.

John, we need to know why Chief Justice Roberts pulled Alito off writing the decision.

We’ve got a lot of questions. For example: If he was too conflicted to write the opinion, why let him rule on the case at all?

Representatives Jamie Raskin and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sent a letter to Chief Justice Roberts demanding answers.

As the letter says:

"[B]y taking the half measure of replacing him as the opinion’s author, instead of requiring him...to recuse wholly from the matter, you allowed the Court to violate and defy federal law, the Constitution, and its own Code of Conduct."

John, we need answers from Chief Justice Roberts on this, but also on the steps he will take to end the Supreme Court’s ethics crisis more broadly. It’s never been more clear that we need ethics reform for the highest court in the land.

Please support CREW in our fight for real ethics reform for the Supreme Court by making a donation to CREW today →

Thank you,

Donald Sherman
Executive Director
CREW