Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito can be heard in a newly released secret recording blasting ProPublica’s investigative journalism for bias against Supreme Court decisions.
Justice Alito made the remarks at the Supreme Court Historical Association on June 3 when he was approached by Lauren Windsor, a progressive filmmaker who was attending the dinner as a member of the association under her real name but posing as a conservative.
When Windsor asked why he thought the Supreme Court was “so attacked and targeted by the media,” Alito replied, “Well, I think it’s simple. They don’t like our decisions, and they don’t like the prospects of our decisions on some of the cases that are coming up.”
“This is the beginning of the end, and we have groups that are heavily funded by ideological groups that are spearheading these attacks. That’s the way it is,” Alito continued. According to the recording It was released Tuesday night.
Justice Windsor asked Justice Alito to elaborate, to which Justice Alito replied, “ProPublica.”
“ProPublica is heavily funded, and they spent a lot of money investigating Clarence Thomas, for example,” he said, “you know, everything he did in his life. They did the same thing with me. But they look for every little thing they can find and try to make something out of it. That’s just the way they are.”
The nonprofit news organization ProPublica published a series of investigative reports last year detailing a variety of undisclosed lavish trips, gifts, and questionable extrajudicial activities involving several judges. The reports, in a series titled “Friend of the Court,” took an in-depth look at the billionaires behind these gifts and free trips over the years.
Reporters on the series won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for public service last month for their work.
ProPublica’s reporting drew intense attention to the Supreme Court and the standards (or perceived lack thereof) that monitor judges for accepting gifts without reporting them.
In response to the criticism, a ProPublica spokesperson told The Hill, “ProPublica exposes abuses of power no matter which party is in power, and our newsroom operates with rigorous independence.”
“Donors are not informed of stories before they are published and have no say in which stories our reporters pursue,” the spokesperson added. “More than 55,000 donors from all walks of life actively fund our investigative and nonpartisan journalism.”
The stories about Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Alito’s travels “would not have been made public without our reporting,” the spokesman added.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has been embroiled in controversy in recent weeks after reports emerged of two flags flying in his home, including an upside-down American flag flying in his Alexandria, Virginia, home on Jan. 6, 2021, and in the days surrounding President Biden’s inauguration.
Earlier this week, Windsor also released other secret recordings of Alito and his wife, Martha Ann Alito, in which Alito vowed revenge on those who have stirred up controversy surrounding him and her husband.
Alito appeared to embrace his partisan role, telling Windsor that “one side is going to win” in America’s ideological divide.
“There may be ways to work together, ways to live peacefully together, but it’s difficult because we disagree on fundamental points and we can’t compromise on those,” he said in the recording.
The comments drew immediate condemnation from Democrats, who argued that Justice Alito was pursuing a partisan political agenda while serving as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Justice Windsor defended his decision to secretly record the judges’ comments on June 3, arguing that he had not enticed the judges into making controversial comments.
“I don’t think there was any temptation to Mr. Alito,” Windsor said of Alito during an appearance on NewsNation’s “Cuomo.” “I think the temptation was to lure him into a position that he already held or that he’d gotten to in the past year.”
NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.
