Trump may have had other business with Alito than delaying his sentencing: analyst

President-elect Donald Trump's phone call with Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito at the same time he was filing a motion to the Supreme Court to block his sentencing in his New York criminal case prompted immediate outrage from legal experts, as it created the appearance of Trump trying to improperly sway the court's decision.

But that might not be the only reason Trump wanted to speak to the far-right justice, court analysts Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern wrote for Slate on Thursday.

Alito, who has faced several controversies — including improper acceptance of gifts and a MAGA insurrection symbol displayed at one of his family's properties as the court weighed a challenge to the 2020 election — said he was simply acting as a reference for William Levi, a former law clerk Trump is considering for Department of Defense general counsel.

His explanation doesn't hold water, the court analysts said, as Levi has already served in the Trump administration and presumably wouldn't need a reference.

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So there is the appearance Trump was trying to lean on Alito to bail him out of sentencing, Lithwick and Stern wrote — but there are at least two other plausible reasons the two could have wanted to talk.

"First, Levi played a major role in marshaling federal law enforcement to subdue the insurrection on Jan. 6, summoning the FBI for backup after rioters overwhelmed the Capitol Police," they wrote — meaning Trump would need assurances from his former boss that he would be a "loyal foot soldier" this time around. "As a steadfast champion of the president-elect’s agenda, Alito is well positioned to vouch that his former clerk remains a true believer in the cause despite his regrettable lapse four years ago. The justice, after all, shares Trump’s paranoid loathing for the so-called deep state that is, allegedly, forever plotting to sabotage the past and future president. Alito would surely know if his own former clerk was a Never Trumper in MAGA clothing."

The other possible explanation, they wrote, is that "Trump sought to flatter Alito by calling upon him as a character reference, part of his long campaign to butter up the justices whom he wants to retire. The charm offensive worked on Justice Anthony Kennedy, convincing the erstwhile swing vote that his seat would be better off in Trump’s hands."

Trump could be planning to appoint a number of former Alito clerks to convince the aging justice there's no risk to his departure.

"Whatever the true reason for Tuesday’s call, both men must have understood the questionable optics," they concluded. "Remember back when Bill Clinton met briefly on an airport tarmac with then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and it somehow represented the demise of all remaining public trust in the Justice Department? Us too. And yet a Supreme Court justice chatting with a party to an emergency matter pending at the court this week is apparently of no concern now."