Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito responds to criticism over his undisclosed 2008 luxury fishing trip funded by a GOP mega-donor.
The reported vacation was at an Alaska fishing lodge, and the justice supposedly went there aboard a private plane. The trip faced criticism after the donor was later one who had cases before the country's top court.
Undisclosed 2008 Luxury Fishing Trip
The junket featured a tour of a remote waterfall where bears were known to snatch salmon from a river with their teeth. Alito kept the trip private despite such a process being required on court disclosure forms.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court justice was found to have not recused himself from cases that involved the Republican mega-donor, who was later identified to be Paul Singer. The latter reportedly showed cash on GOP candidates and right-wing legal groups and was the one who funded Alito's flight on his private plane, as per Yahoo News.
If the Supreme Court justice had chartered the plane, it would have cost him roughly $100,000. In a statement, an Indiana University law professor, Charles Geyh, questioned if Alito and Singer were good friends, what was the justice doing ruling on the latter's case and why he would accept the funding for his trip if they were not good friends.
The owner of King Salmon Lodge, Robin Arkley II, a mortgage firm billionaire and conservative donor, was the one who paid for the Supreme Court justice's stay at the luxe lodge. Reports noted that guests were also flown to fish the Nushagak River. This was home to one of the best salmon runs in the world.
In a snapshot of the excursion, Alito grins while showing off his giant fish catch during his vacation. The justice also ate dinners filled with king crab, salmon, and Kobe steaks while being known to have drank $1,000 bottles of wine.
Samuel Alito Speaks Out
On Wednesday, Alito issued a public rebuttal of the reports of his luxury fishing trip, and he refused to answer questions by ProPublica. The justice said that the outlet responsible for the original report leveled two charges against him, according to ABC News.
Alito identified these as needing to have recused himself from any matters where an entity was connected to Singer. And two, he was obligated to list certain items as gifts on his 2008 Financial Disclose Report. Alito said that neither of the two charges was valid.
He asserted that he was not aware of the Republican mega donor's connection in the cases that went before the Supreme Court. He added that his conversations with Singer were limited and did not include his business or that of the court.
Alito's rebuttal of ProPublica's report, which has yet to be published, is seen as an unusual public venture of a Supreme Court justice into the opinionated realm of a newspaper editorial page. On Tuesday, the Washington Post said that many criticized him for effectively leaking elements of the outlet's ongoing journalism.
