Objections to Alito’s Refusal to Recuse
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Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, in 2018. “The most amazing part is, why do people care about our life,” she said in a 2006 interview, looking back on Justice Alito’s confirmation hearing.Credit…Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press
To the Editor:
Re “Alito Rejecting Calls to Recuse in Flag Uproar” (front page, May 29):
Everyone has been focused on how Justice Samuel Alito can pretend to be impartial on Jan. 6 cases after the flag controversy.
The greater issue is how this episode is yet another exposure of Justice Alito’s lack of judgment. Most jurists would see the obvious conflict and recuse themselves. Justice Alito’s inability or unwillingness to extract himself from the Jan. 6 cases that come before the Supreme Court inflicts a great deal more damage to its reputation and credibility.
That leaves us stuck with a Supreme Court majority that is practicing politics when it is supposed to be providing legal guidance based on law.
Since only the Supreme Court can clean up this embarrassing conduct — and its reputation can’t sink much lower — Chief Justice John Roberts should assemble the other eight justices to hammer out rigid rules of conduct. These should require justices to demonstrate pristine behavior and institute accountability so Justice Alito can understand how ludicrous is his decision not to remove himself from cases where he has a conflict.
This should not be left to his judgment, because clearly he doesn’t demonstrate any.
Jay Margolis
Delray Beach, Fla.
To the Editor:
It strains credulity that Justice Samuel Alito could not have persuaded his wife to take down the upside-down flag indicating support for “Stop the Steal.” If he were truly distressed by this egregious show of partisanship, he surely could have argued that, given his position as one of nine people with the power to influence who the next occupant of the White House will be, he could ill afford to be associated with such blatant support for insurrection.
