{"id":2252624,"date":"2024-05-25T06:11:08","date_gmt":"2024-05-25T10:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/justice-alito-recusal-calls-are-a-coordinated-left-wing-campaign-like-clockwork\/"},"modified":"2024-05-25T06:18:45","modified_gmt":"2024-05-25T10:18:45","slug":"justice-alito-recusal-calls-are-a-coordinated-left-wing-campaign-like-clockwork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/justice-alito-recusal-calls-are-a-coordinated-left-wing-campaign-like-clockwork\/","title":{"rendered":"Calls for Justice Alito&#8217;s recusal are part of a &#8216;coordinated&#8217; left-wing campaign, happening &#8216;like clockwork"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjustice-alito-recusal-calls-are-a-coordinated-left-wing-campaign-like-clockwork%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2252624&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Democratic lawmakers and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/antifa-blm-vandalize-ice-building-burn-original-starbucks\/\" title=\"Antifa, BLM vandalize ICE building, burn original Starbucks\">left-wing groups<\/a> are \u200durging Justice Samuel\u200b Alito to recuse himself from\u2062 cases due to ethics \u2062concerns, aiming to \u2063undermine the Supreme Court&#8217;s\u200c legitimacy. This \u200deffort follows a pattern of attacks on conservative justices, notably Alito, intensifying ideological conflicts. The controversy\u2064 surrounding the &#8220;An Appeal to Heaven&#8221; flag at \u2064Alito&#8217;s residence\u200d has further fueled calls for his recusal.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Calls from Democratic lawmakers and left-wing groups for Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/samuel-alito\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Samuel Alito<\/a> to recuse himself from key cases over ethics violations are a \u201ccoordinated effort\u201d to delegitimize the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/supreme-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Supreme Court<\/a>, according to experts who say the attacks on conservative justices are becoming more consistent with each passing year.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cAn Appeal to Heaven\u201d flag, one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/flag\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">foremost flags<\/a> used by Patriot forces including, George Washington, during the Revolutionary War, was flown at Alito\u2019s vacation house last year, according to a <em>New York Times<\/em> report published this week, drawing outrage from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/democrats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Democrats<\/a> who claim it was also a key symbol during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. It marked the second time in two weeks that the justice\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/3014511\/flags-alito-is-under-fire-for\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"flag poles became a topic of controversy\">flag poles became a topic of controversy<\/a>, and the report prompted calls from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) for Alito to recuse himself from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/covid-has-killed-her-hundreds-of-thousands-but-abortion-has-killed-her-tens-of-millions\/\" title=\"COVID Has Killed Her Hundreds of Thousands, But Abortion Has Killed Her Tens of Millions\">cases involving<\/a> former President Donald Trump and the 2020 election, all because a handful of protesters carried the Revolutionary War-era flag on Jan. 6, 2021.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito (left) and the same type of \u201cAn Appeal to Heaven\u201d flag that was seen flying at his beach house. (Associated Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Congressional Democrats and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blm-leaders-slam-adam-schiff-urge-newsom-not-to-appoint-him-as-ca-attorney-general\/\" title=\"BLM Leaders Slam Adam Schiff, Urge Newsom Not To Appoint Him As CA Attorney General\">activist groups<\/a> are turning up the pressure on Alito in the wake of the flag controversy. Despite pushback from legal experts and voices on the Right, Democrats and left-wing groups have sought throughout Biden\u2019s presidency to raise questions about key Republican-appointed justices on the Supreme Court and have done so by relying on the strategy of attacking their ethics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Left has been constantly attacking the court since at least March 2020 when Sen. [Chuck] Schumer [D-NY] stood in front of the court during an oral argument on an abortion case and directly threatened Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh on their vote,\u201d Mark Paoletta, ex-general counsel for Trump\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/omb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Office of Management and Budget<\/a> and a close friend of Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Ginni Thomas, said.<\/p>\n<p>Paoletta specifically recalled that the last three years have shown a pattern of leaks or reports that elevate Supreme Court scrutiny \u201cin the springtime, as the court nears the end of the term and big decisions will be handed down.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>In May 2022, there was the leak of the <em>Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Decision <\/em>that signaled the imminent overturning of <em>Roe v. Wade<\/em>, a leak that has remained unsolved despite its damaging impact on the institution. Last year,\u00a0ProPublica<em> <\/em>launched a dedicated series in the spring questioning Thomas\u2019s ethics, specifically over gifts of vacations that billionaire Harlan Crow gave to Thomas, just before the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd now there\u2019s the Trump cases in 2024,\u201d Paoletta said, adding that the reporting about flags flown months ago in front of Alito\u2019s home arrived near the end of the current term \u201clike clockwork.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Paoletta said the left-wing groups amplifying the attacks on conservative justices\u2019 ethics have an agenda.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShort term, it\u2019s to intimidate the conservative justices and try to force a baseless recusal or to have them trim their sails on an opinion and longer term to undermine the court\u2019s legitimacy and pack the court,\u201d Paoletta said, likening Democrats\u2019 calls to reduce the number of justices deciding a case to an inverse court-packing effort.<\/p>\n<p>Democratic Sens. Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who oversee the federal courts in their respective roles as chairmen of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a judicial oversight subcommittee, requested a meeting with Chief Justice John Roberts as soon as possible to discuss what they called an \u201cethics crisis\u201d at the Supreme Court. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2024-05-23-Letter-to-CJ-Roberts.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>a letter<\/a> dated Thursday, the senators renewed calls for the high court to impose binding ethics rules and specifically urge Alito to recuse from 2020 and Jan. 6 related cases.<\/p>\n<p>The decision to recuse is left up to specific justices and is not reviewable by other colleagues. The law requires recusal if a family member is involved in a case as a litigant, witness, or lawyer or has an interest that will greatly affect the decision.<\/p>\n<p>Legal experts told the <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>there is nothing in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscourts.gov\/judges-judgeships\/code-conduct-united-states-judges\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Code of Conduct for United States Judges\">Code of Conduct for United States Judges<\/a> nor the recently-adopted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/about\/Code-of-Conduct-for-Justices_November_13_2023.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"ecently-adopted ethics code for the Supreme court\">ethics code for the Supreme court<\/a> that would result in a need for Alito to recuse himself from the case. That code was adopted to ensure justices maintain proper disclosures of gifts they receive from outside parties, but it has no binding enforcement mechanism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe upside-down flag does not require Alito to recuse from every 2020 election case or future election case or whatever else,\u201d Jonathan Adler, a professor at Case Western Reserve University who specializes in environmental, administrative, and constitutional law, said.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>There have also been arguably more blatant signs of personal bias from past Supreme Court justices who did not ultimately recuse from cases. For example, the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an outspoken anti-Trump critic in 2016, calling him a \u201cfaker\u201d and criticizing him for not releasing his tax returns. She did not recuse herself from a 2020 case involving Trump titled <em>Trump v. Mazars, <\/em>which concerned a congressional subpoena for his tax returns.<\/p>\n<p>But Adler offered a pointed response to both the conduct of Alito and Ginsburg, saying that both should have worked toward limiting any appearance of partisanship even if their conduct did not meet the standard for recusal. He also conceded \u201cit\u2019s pretty clear\u201d the recent concerns about Alito are part of a \u201ccontinued sustained campaign to attack the integrity of conservative justices.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Cases that Democrats such as Durbin and Whitehouse think Alito should recuse from are pivotal in the high court\u2019s current term, and the justices have not yet handed down their decisions in them. One of the cases is <em>Trump v. United States<\/em>, which asks the justices whether Trump has any immunity from prosecution in the context of the 2020 election subversion case brought by special counsel Jack Smith. The other case involves a question of whether hundreds of Jan. 6 riot defendants were wrongfully charged under a long-standing obstruction statute when the certification of President Joe Biden\u2019s electoral victory was briefly interrupted due to the riot.<\/p>\n<p>After the initial report that an upside-down flag, a symbol associated with 2020 election skeptics, had flown briefly outside Alito\u2019s home in 2021, the second report about the An Appeal to Heaven flag opened a deluge of scrutiny on the conservative justice. A reporter from the nonprofit outlet ProPublica<em> <\/em>posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, an image he obtained from a source who spotted the same An Appeal to Heaven symbol flown outside the home of Federalist Society Chairman Leonard Leo, who played an influential role in helping Trump name three justices during his term and is close to members of the high court.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo surprise that creepy-billionaire-funded Court packer Leonard Leo flies the same MAGA battle flag as his minion Alito,\u201d Whitehouse said.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div>\n<blockquote data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">No surprise that creepy-billionaire-funded Court packer Leonard Leo flies the same MAGA battle flag as his minion Alito. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sHlvtyUje7\">https:\/\/t.co\/sHlvtyUje7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenWhitehouse\/status\/1793666909273227317?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 23, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>An attorney for Leonard Leo scoffed at the notion that there is even a remote connection between the flag that Alito and Leo flew outside of their and the riot on Jan. 6.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGiven the venerable and respected status of the \u2018An Appeal to Heaven\u2019 flag, as the key symbol during the American Revolution that was often used by George Washington, to suggest that its use today carries some insidious connotations is to manifest profound respect for America\u2019s heritage,\u201d Leo\u2019s attorney David Rivkin told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Leo responded to the ProPublica reporter posting the flag outside of his home, saying, \u201cAs someone who lives on the water, I like naval flags, and as a history buff, I occasionally fly those and about a half dozen other early American flags.\u201d A source familiar with the matter told the <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>there was no coordination between Alito and Leo over the flags they raised outside their homes.<\/p>\n<p>Major donors to\u00a0ProPublica, including the Sandler Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and Ford Foundation, have funded watchdogs that have called on Thomas to resign or be investigated, the <em>Daily Caller<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2023\/06\/20\/propublica-donors-clarence-thomas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In response to a question about allegations of coordinated campaigning against the high court, a spokesperson from ProPublica told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>, \u201cOur reporter posted a newsworthy and accurate photo. We stand by our previous reporting about Leonard Leo\u2019s connections to Justice Alito.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other nonprofit organizations, such as Accountable.US, an ex-project of the Arabella Advisors-managed New Venture Fund, this week raised awareness about Alito\u2019s flag waving and amplified calls for him to recuse from cases raised by Durbin and Whitehouse. Arabella Advisors is widely considered the largest left-wing dark money consultancy empire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChief Justice Roberts must take urgent action to preserve some semblance of integrity at our high court,\u201d Accountable.US president Caroline Ciccone wrote in a <a href=\"https:\/\/accountable.us\/accountable-us-statement-on-second-alito-flag-flying-incident\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"statement\">statement<\/a> on the same day that Durbin and Whitehouse penned their letter to Roberts.<\/p>\n<p>Accountable.US <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2570858\/democratic-dark-money-kingmaker-pumps-millions-into-nonpartisan-supreme-court-watchdogs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"gained more\">gained more<\/a> than $2 million in 2022 from New Venture Fund for \u201ccivil rights, social action, and advocacy,\u201d according to financial disclosures previously reported on by the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. Between 2019 and 2021, Accountable.US received a staggering $8 million from the New Venture Fund, which used to sponsor the watchdog fiscally.<\/p>\n<p>On Nov. 1, Accountable.US and other left-wing activist hubs called for \u201cClarence Thomas\u2019s immediate resignation in the face of a growing Supreme Court corruption crisis,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.afj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/67-Organizations-Urge-Justice-Thomas-to-Resign.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according<\/a> to a letter, which cited reporting from\u00a0ProPublica\u00a0on the conservative justice not reporting travel with Crow. The <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>reached out to Accountable.US for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Republicans in the Senate have broadly dismissed the issue surrounding Alito.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) told the <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>that Durbin\u2019s concerns amount to \u201csilly, flag-based conspiracy theories.\u201d The flag waving does not \u201cconstitute grounds for Justice Alito\u2019s recusal, and the senator has been unable to cite a single principle of law to make his case. This is part of a coordinated effort by Democrats to bully the Supreme Court into ruling the way they want,\u201d Lee added.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said Durbin and Whitehouse\u2019s new letter was \u201cmore harassment.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Durbin\u2019s office did not respond to multiple requests by the <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>asking for a specific line in the code of conduct for lower court and Supreme Court justices that Alito explicitly violated. But the line Democrats would most likely cite is a section of the Supreme Court\u2019s ethics code that states: \u201cA Justice should disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the Justice\u2019s impartiality might reasonably be questioned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter President Trump\u2019s appointment of three Justices, the Left is furious that it no longer controls the Court, as they had for decades,\u201d Paoletta said, adding, \u201cThis is about power, not ethics.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democratic lawmakers and left-wing groups demand Justice Samuel Alito&#8217;s recusal in crucial cases over ethics concerns, seen as a systematic bid to discredit the Supreme Court. Experts note a growing trend of attacks on conservative justices, suggesting a deliberate strategy. The &#8220;An Appeal to Heaven&#8221; flag, a symbol of resistance, underscores the intensifying ideological clashes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2633,"featured_media":2252625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/MixCollage-24-May-2024-02-38-PM-4489.jpg.optimal.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2252624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/MixCollage-24-May-2024-02-38-PM-4489.jpg.optimal.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2252624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2252624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2252624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2252625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2252624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2252624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2252624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}