Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. was caught in a secret audio recording blaming ProPublica for stirring up unfair media scrutiny in the latest release of the audio recorded by undercover liberal activists.
CNN this week shared an audio clip recorded by Ally Sammarco, who identifies as a former Republican turned Democratic strategist, between her and Justice Alito where she posed as a religious conservative at an event.
“I am so sorry, first of all, about all the attacks on you by the media. I just think they are piling on you, and it’s undeserved, so I just wanted to ask you why do you think the Supreme Court has been so attacked and targeted by the media these days?” she asked.
Justice Alito responded, “I think it’s a simple reason. They don’t like our decisions, they don’t like how they anticipate we may decide some cases that are coming up. That’s the beginning of the end of it, and there are, there are groups that are very well funded by ideological groups that have spearheaded these attacks. That’s what it is,” he said.
She prodded further, asking which groups.
“ProPublica gets a lot of, you know, money and they have spent a fortune investigating Clarence Thomas, for example, you know, everything he’s ever done his entire life and they’ve done some of that to me too,” Justice Alito said.
It’s the latest revelation of audio recorded by liberal activists targeting Justice Alito in an undercover operation.
Earlier this week, another liberal activist secretly recorded Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Alito.
Lauren Windsor, posing as a conservative, recorded the two justices at the Supreme Court Historical Society’s annual dinner last week.
In one exchange with Justice Alito, she said the country needed to return to “a place of godliness.”
“I agree with you. I agree with you,” Justice Alito responded.
She also prodded him, saying she felt there was no place for negotiating with the left to end polarization.
“On one side or the other — one side or the other is going to win. I don’t know,” he replied.
“I mean, there can be a way of working — a way of living together peacefully, but it’s difficult, you know, because there are differences on fundamental things that really can’t be compromised. They really can’t be compromised. So it’s not like you are going to split the difference,” the justice added.
Chief Justice Roberts, meanwhile, pushed back on Ms. Windsor, disagreeing with the notion that the country was polarized.
“The idea that the court is in the middle of a lot of tumultuous stuff going on is nothing new,” he said.
Ms. Windsor provided the recording exclusively to Rolling Stone, telling the publication that she wanted to shed light on the Supreme Court’s ethics issues.
“Because the Supreme Court is shrouded in secrecy, and they’re refusing to submit to any accountability in the face of overwhelming evidence of serious ethics breaches, I think that it’s justified to take these types of measures,” she said.
Ms. Windsor added she thought the public should have a “window into a body that is increasingly powerful and increasingly willing to overturn precedent.”
The high court has been under liberal attack over purported ethics issues for the past year.
Justice Alito recently came under fire for flying at his residences an upside-down American flag and “An Appeal to Heaven” banner, which critics say are symbols sympathetic with the Jan. 6 protesters.
The flag-flying incidents were reported by The New York Times.
Last year, ProPublica published articles critical of Justice Thomas and ties to a GOP megadonor.
Democratic lawmakers have called for Justices Thomas and Alito to recuse themselves from major disputes before the court this term, which ends at the end of June.
The calls for recusal come as the high court weighs two major disputes over whether former President Donald Trump is immune from charges stemming from his challenging what he calls a rigged 2020 election and another dispute over an obstruction charge facing hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants, including Mr. Trump.
A spokesperson from the Supreme Court did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the recordings.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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