Justice Alito Plays Dumb To Wall Street Journal When Asked About What Congress Can Do. You Shouldn’t Buy It.

// Recently, Justice Sam Alito took the time to write to his substack, The Wall Street Journal, that Congress better mind their business when it comes to even thinking about enforcing a code of ethics on the Supreme Court. According to him, the Constitution is the only body that has the authority to impose rules on the Court. The ABA Journal has reprinted the excuse Alito gave to his chosen news outlet:

“I know this is a controversial view, but I’m willing to say it,” he said. “No provision in the Constitution gives them the authority to regulate the Supreme Court—period.”

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To that I have two things to say. First, damned that substack zinger is damned good! I’m not the mind behind it, it was a brilliant joke tweeted by Leah Litman and, despite my hunting, I wasn’t able to find the original. What I did find, and this is the second thing, is that Litman has done the kindness of providing Alito with some citation that will surely change his stance on what Congress can and can’t do.

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Alito to the Constitution: “not true” https://t.co/PiVHU9490T

— Leah Litman (@LeahLitman) July 28, 2023

I’m going to wager the thing that makes Alito’s admittedly “controversial view” so complicated is that you’d have to sidestep originalism and textualism to get at it. Maybe Alito doesn’t consider the Court to be a department of the United States? Is that why he and most of his colleagues have gone rogue?

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Another thing that could make Alito’s views controversial is that he’s being a bit stretchy with the truth. As part of his PR stunt, he told the WSJ that he, along with his colleagues at the Supreme Court, willingly comply with the disclosure laws that lower court justices have to abide by. While that may be true for Sotomayor and Jackson, it is not true for Thomas, Gorsuch, and Alito himself. It has actually gotten to the point that other federal judges are openly ripping into the Supreme Court’s ethical chicanery.

Sure is odd how controversial things can get when there’s a paper trail of you being demonstrably wrong.

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Edit: I found the tweet!

the wsj is his substack tho

— Leah Litman (@LeahLitman) July 28, 2023

Can Congress Bind Supreme Court On Ethics Code? Alito Offers Opinion [ABA Journal]

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Earlier: Federal Judge Absolutely NAILS Supreme Court’s Ethics Dumpster Fire

Paragon Of Virtue Clarence Thomas Has Been Given Half Million In Value Off The Record And It Totally Hasn’t Impacted His Judging. Not One Bit. Nope.
Biglaw Head Bought Neil Gorsuch’s Property In 2017. Yes, We Are Just Learning About It Now.
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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

Topics

Congress, Courts, Judicial Ethics, Justice Alito, Samuel Alito, Supreme Court