FILE PHOTO: U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts awaits U.S. President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress in the Capitol Chamber of the United States in Washington, United States, February 4, 2020. Photo by Leah Millis /POOL/Reuters
WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John Roberts declined an invitation Thursday to meet with Democratic senators to discuss the ethics of the Supreme Court and the controversy over flags flying outside homes owned by Justice Samuel Alito.
Roberts’ response came in a letter to senators a day after Alito separately wrote to them and House members rejecting their requests to recuse himself from major Supreme Court cases involving the former President Donald Trump and President Jan. 6 rioters because of the flags, which resemble those carried by the January 1 rioters. September 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Judiciary Committee member Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., wrote to Roberts a week ago requesting a meeting and that Roberts take steps to ensure that Alito recuses himself from any matters brought before the court regarding the case of January. 6 or the former Republican president’s attempts to overturn his 2020 electoral defeat.
“I must respectfully decline your request for a meeting,” Roberts wrote.
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Judges decide for themselves when to withdraw from cases, Roberts noted. Alito said he had concluded nothing about the flags, both of which he said were flown by his wife in front of their homes in Virginia and New Jersey, that required his recusal.
Last year, Roberts refused to testify at a Judiciary Committee hearing on ethics at the Supreme Court, and he spoke about it Thursday, saying chief justices rarely encountered criticism.
“Moreover, the proposed format – a meeting with leaders of a single party who have expressed interest in the cases currently pending before the court – simply highlights that participating in such a meeting would be inadvisable,” he wrote.
Alito and another conservative justice, Clarence Thomas, have rejected calls to recuse themselves from cases related to the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Thomas’ wife, Ginni, supported efforts to overturn the election results.
Public confidence in the Supreme Court is at its lowest level in at least 50 years.
The justices are considering two major cases related to the Capitol attack, including charges against the rioters and whether Trump has immunity from prosecution for election interference.
READ FULLY: Justice Alito’s letters rejecting January 1 appeals to recuse himself. 6 cases before the Supreme Court
The New York Times reported that an inverted American flag was seen at Alito’s home in Alexandria, Virginia, less than two weeks after the Capitol attack. The newspaper also reported that a “Call to Heaven” flag was raised outside the judge’s beach house in New Jersey last summer. Both flags were carried by rioters who violently stormed the Capitol in January 2021, echoing Trump’s false claims of election fraud.
Alito said the inverted American flag was flown by his wife amid an argument with neighbors and that he did not participate. He said she also flew the “Call to Heaven” flag, but was unaware of her ties to the Capitol rioters.
Codes of judicial ethics emphasize the need for judges to be independent, avoiding political statements or opinions on issues they might be called upon to decide. The Supreme Court did not long have its own ethics code, but it adopted one in November 2023 in the face of sustained criticism over undisclosed travel and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices.
The code, however, lacks enforcement, and the Judiciary Committee approved legislation last year that would set stricter standards. But Republicans strongly opposed any attempt to tell the court what to do.
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FILE PHOTO: U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts awaits U.S. President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress in the Capitol Chamber of the United States in Washington, United States, February 4, 2020. Photo by Leah Millis /POOL/Reuters