Justice Alito refuses to recuse himself in case involving lawyer who interviewed him

Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. says he will not recuse himself from an upcoming Supreme Court tax case despite the fact that one of the attorneys on the case interviewed Alito for articles that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post reported.

In a statement responding to Democrats' calls for him to recuse himself, Alito said that when David B. Rivkin Jr. co-authored the articles, “he did so as a journalist, not an advocate."

“The case in which he is involved was never mentioned; nor did we discuss any issue in that case either directly or indirectly. His involvement in the case was disclosed in the second article, and therefore readers could take that into account," Alito said.

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Democrats accused Alito of violating ethics by giving interviews to Rivkin while he was representing a couple seeking Supreme Court review of a tax case.

Rivkin’s “efforts to help Justice Alito air his personal grievances could cast doubt on Justice Alito’s ability to fairly discharge his duties in a case in which Mr. Rivkin represents one of the parties," Democrats wrote in a letter to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. last month.

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“As you wrote in 2011, ‘[j]udges must exercise both constant vigilance and good judgment to fulfill the obligations they have all taken since the beginning of the Republic,’” the letter said. “Due to the aforementioned violations of the Statement on Ethics, which Justice Alito himself signed, we believe that he has exercised neither. Recusal in these matters is the only reasonable way for Justice Alito to prevent further damage to public confidence in the Court.”

Read the full report at The Washington Post.