Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito didn’t disclose a luxury fishing trip with a hedge-fund billionaire, according to a report which the justice himself confirmed in an opinion piece defending his actions.
ProPublica reported that Alito took a trip on a private plane from hedge-fund magnate Paul Singer of Elliott Management, that would’ve cost $1,000 had he done so himself, and did not disclose it on his annual financial disclosures. The trip, in 2008, was before the Supreme Court in 2014 ruled 7-to-1 in favour of the hedge fund in its landmark debt dispute with Argentina, a case where Alito ruled with the majority and didn’t recuse himself.
Alito took the unusual step of publishing a Wall Street Journal op-ed ahead of the story’s release, in which he said he should not have recused himself on the Alaska trip and wasn’t obligated to list the trip on his disclosure form.
“My recollection is that I have spoken to Mr Singer on no more than a handful of occasions, all of which (with the exception of small talk during a fishing trip 15 years ago) consisted of brief and casual comments at events attended by large groups. On no occasion have we discussed the activities of his businesses, and we have never talked about any case or issue before the Court,” wrote Alito.
Alito said the private jet flying to Alaska, which the ProPublica report said was arranged by Leonard Leo of the influential Federalist Society, would’ve had an empty seat otherwise. Sheldon Whitehouse, the Democratic senator from Rhode Island, said over Twitter that the “empty seat” excuse would not overrule similar disclosure obligations the legislative and executive branches face.
The ProPublica story also reported that the late Antonin Scalia didn’t disclose an Alaska fishing trip he made in 2005 after speaking before the Federalist Society in Napa, Calif. A senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit who was on the same trip told the news outlet that he had asked the financial disclosure office whether to disclose it, and was told he didn’t have to.
ProPublica is the outlet that reported earlier in the year that Justice Clarence Thomas received decades of luxury travel from megadonor Harlan Crow. All nine justices of the Supreme Court subsequently signed an ethics statement as Chief Justice John Roberts declined an invitation to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
