Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito Dismisses His Profligate Right-Wing Fundraising As ‘Not Important’

[ProSense]

Exclusive: Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito Dismisses His Profligate Right-Wing Fundraising As ‘Not Important’

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It’s not the first time Alito has attended the Spectator dinner. In 2008, Alito headlined the Spectator’s annual gala, helping to raise tens of thousands of dollars for the political magazine. According to Jay Homnick, a conservative who attended the 2008 Spectator gala, Alito spent much of his speech ripping then Vice President-elect Joe Biden as a serial plagiarizer.

As Alito entered the event last night, I approached the Justice and asked him why he thought it appropriate to attend a highly political fundraiser with the chairman of the Republican Party, given Alito’s position on the court. Alito appeared baffled, and replied, “it’s not important that I’m here.” “But,” I said, “you also helped headline this same event two years ago, obviously helping to raise political money as the keynote.” Alito replied curtly, “it’s not important,” before walking away from me.

After the gala, I again tried to approach Justice Alito — this time, with a video camera in hand — to ask him about the ethical issues raised by his right-wing political fundraising. Before I could come close to him, his security guards threatened me with arrest. Watch it:

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A Supreme Court justice lending a hand to a political fundraising event would be a clear violation of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, if it wasn’t for the fact that the nine justices have exempted themselves from much of the ethical rules governing all other federal judges. Nevertheless, a spokesperson for the Supreme Court tells ThinkProgress that “(t)he Justices look to the Code of Conduct for guidance” in determining when they may participate in fundraising activities.

That Code provides that in almost all circumstances, “a judge should not personally participate in fund-raising activities, solicit funds for any organization, or use or permit the use of the prestige of judicial office for that purpose. A judge should not personally participate in membership solicitation if the solicitation might reasonably be perceived as coercive or is essentially a fund-raising mechanism.”

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[valerief]

1. This govt is one big sham. nt

[movonne]

4. You betcha...and you haven't seen anything yet...there was a

day that supreme court would never done such a thing...but since they have made it legal for companies to do as they please with buying the elections...but I didn't see much of an uproar over this..

[polichick]

12. Doesn't help that war criminals are enjoying their retirements either. nt

[Qutzupalotl]

2. Translation: Please don't tell anyone about it. nt

[The Wielding Truth]

3. A case for impeachment. How can this judge be trusted?

[deminks]

5. Are they receiving any speakers' fees?

or just donating the time out of the evilness in their hearts. What do they get in return? Or, what have they already received in return?

Soon, oh so very soon, the Chamber will control all three branches of government. The Supreme Court is gone. The House is gone. Bought and paid for.

This is a complete outrage. And yet, they flaunt it.

[mediaman007]

6. Roosevelt succeeded in this environment. Don't think that the Fascists

of the 1930's weren't out for his scalp. We truly have to admire what Roosevelt accomplished!

How did he do it? Roosevelt controlled the message. He had "Fireside Chats." He hit back against unfriendly media. Where Roosevelt succeeded, today's Democrats are just pudding. Its a shame, because the Tea Party anger should rise against the Fascists, not in support.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. We have a Supreme Court justice who is involved in fund raising!

Hey, all you Democrats that refused to filibuster Alito, how does it feel to be Epic failures at what you do in Congress?

[shraby]

8. I'm sending this article to Russ Feingold. Please send

it to your own Senator or Representative if you have a Democratic one.

[dgibby]

9. Good thing he doesn't work for MSNBC, isn't it? n/t

[DFW]

10. Clear violation of the Code of Conduct

Clear grounds for impeachment.
We have about 6 weeks left to do it.
There's more of a chance Iran will join both NATO and the NFL.

[Supersedeas]

15. meanwhile, the corporate shills in the ABA sit on their hands

[Brother Buzz]

11. Darrell Issa, Darrel Issa, please use the nearest white courtesy telephone.

[ThoughtCriminal]

13. If a non-Republican Justice did this

I suspect it would be headlining at least a week long news cycle. And the fact that it has become common practice for the conservative wing to completely ignore ethics would go uncommented for the vast majority of media outlets. Have any of Non-GOP appointed Justices done anything like this?

[JohnSteele]

14. The ethics of Alito's attendance at the dinner

There's a lot of murky analysis out there. Even if those ethics rules applied to Justice Alito (which they don't), he didn't break them.


http://www.legalethicsforum.com/blog/2010/11/justice-alito-at-the-bartley-dinner-much-ado-about-nothing.html

[tanyev]

16. I'm shaking my head and mouthing the words "Not true."