Supreme Court Hot Seat Next Up: Alito
“In early July 2008, Samuel Alito stood on a riverbank in a remote corner of Alaska. The Supreme Court justice was on vacation at a luxury fishing lodge that charged more than $1,000 a day, and after catching a king salmon nearly the size of his leg, Alito posed for a picture. To his left, a man stood beaming: Paul Singer, a hedge fund billionaire who has repeatedly asked the Supreme Court to rule in his favor in high-stakes business disputes.
Singer was more than a fellow angler. He flew Alito to Alaska on a private jet. If the justice chartered the plane himself, the cost could have exceeded $100,000 one way.”
Justice Alito tried to beat ProPublica to the punch with an editorial in the Wall Street Journal that tries to explain his side of the story. The Court is already receiving record low approval ratings from the American public and this latest debacle does nothing to elevate the Justices in the collective minds of Americans. The Court needs to take these issues seriously and agree to ethics reforms to ensure what appears to be blatant conflicts of interest cease immediately. The American form of government depends on the public feeling their elected officials and those nominated by elected officials are essentially on the up an up.
