Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is requesting a meeting with Chief Justice John Roberts about the latest controversies surrounding Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
Alito is facing growing calls to recuse himself from Jan. 6 related cases after the New York Times reported that two controversial flags related to the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement— an upside-down flag and an “Appeal to Heaven’ flag—were displayed at his home.
Durbin and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, is seeking a meeting with Roberts to urge him to ensure Alito recuses himself from Jan. 6 cases and “to discuss the Supreme Court’s worsening ethics crisis,” Axios reported.
“Both the Court and the Judicial Conference appear to have failed to even investigate allegations of ethics violations by Supreme Court justices, much less provide any findings or sanctions,” the senators wrote in the letter. “Until the Court and the Judicial Conference take meaningful action to address this ongoing ethical crisis, we will continue our efforts to enact legislation to resolve this crisis.”
Durbin has previously said the flags “clearly creates the appearance of bias,” and called on Alito to recuse himself.
“Justice Alito should recuse himself immediately from cases related to the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection, including the question of the former President’s immunity in U.S. v. Donald Trump, which the Supreme Court is currently considering,” Durbin said.
