In a statement Thursday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, called on Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself from President-elect Trump's hush money criminal case.
In his claim, Raskin said that Alito “just hours” before Trump's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to intervene to halt the criminal conviction in the New York case over hush-money payments before the 2016 election. He pointed to reports that Trump spoke on the phone.
“Justice Alito has never been a fan of his politics, whether it's the display of flags that clearly support the Jan. 6 insurrectionists and the Stop the Steal movement, or his self-proclaimed 'ideological struggle with the insurrectionists.' “Left-leaning and support for the next president,'' Raskin wrote in a statement.
“In our democracy, Americans expect their cases to be heard by impartial judges. This concept of impartiality goes back even further than the courts' own codes of conduct and includes federal challenges. “It was the basis for earlier versions of the law,” he continued.
Raskin noted that Alito acknowledged the phone call, but said Alito and Trump did not discuss Trump's emergency motion to halt the ruling.
Instead, Alito said in a statement that he spoke with one of Alito's former law clerks and asked him to “answer a call from President-elect Trump regarding his qualifications for government office.”
“I agreed to discuss this with President-elect Trump, and he called me yesterday afternoon,” Alito added. “We did not discuss the emergency application he filed today. In fact, at the time of our conversation, we were not even aware that such an application would be filed.”
But Raskin said receiving such calls “especially when combined with his past partisan ideological activities in support of Trump, shows that he fundamentally misunderstands the basic requirements of judicial ethics.” “It becomes clear that he believes he is above judicial ethics.” absolutely. ”
“Despite the president-elect's active interest in the issues currently before the courts, the mere act of having a private telephone conversation with the president-elect clearly shows that “the judge's impartiality is not reasonable.'' “is sufficient to give rise to a situation in which the person may be suspicious of a person,'' Raskin said. .
“Every federal judge and judge knows they should avoid situations like this. But Judge Alito did not do that,” Raskin continued. “Unbiased constitutional justice requires Judge Alito to adhere to the highest ethical standards and avoid even the appearance of impropriety.”
“Given Justice Alito's continued display of political bias and associated abuse of the public trust, Justice Alito, based on the Constitution, federal law, and the Supreme Court's own code of conduct, decided in Donald J. Trump v. Donald J. There is an obligation to avoid Trump's lawsuits, such as the state of New York, if the matter is now referred to the entire court.
