Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee has expressed frustration over his concerns regarding Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito being ignored. Whitehouse’s dissatisfaction stems from an interview Alito gave to the Wall Street Journal in July 2023, where Alito dismissed Congress’s authority to regulate the Supreme Court. This prompted Whitehouse to file an ethics complaint against Alito in September 2023.
The complaint against Alito gained renewed attention after a New York Times report revealed that an upside-down American flag, interpreted as a pro-Trump symbol, was flown outside Alito’s Virginia home following the 2020 presidential election. This report intensified concerns about Alito’s impartiality, especially since he criticized the Supreme Court for not addressing previous inquiries into his conduct.
Public trust in the Supreme Court has been declining, as evidenced by a September 2023 Gallup poll indicating that only 41 percent of Americans approve of the Court’s performance, compared to 51 percent in 2018. Whitehouse emphasized this erosion of trust in his letter to Alito, expressing concern that the Supreme Court lacks mechanisms for investigating and resolving such ethical issues.
Whitehouse’s letter also criticized Alito for making comments in the Wall Street Journal interview that could influence future court cases and for participating in an interview conducted by a lawyer involved in related legal disputes. Whitehouse suggested that Alito might have been used to support a specific legal argument against congressional oversight.
Alito faced additional scrutiny following the report of the flag incident, though he denied involvement and attributed it to his wife’s brief reaction to a neighbor’s offensive signs.
Despite these denials, Alito’s refusal to recuse himself from cases related to the January 6 Capitol riot and former President Trump’s alleged role in it has sparked further outrage from Democrats, highlighting ongoing concerns about the need for clearer ethical guidelines for Supreme Court justices.