Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito may have already opened himself up to the possibility of being impeached and removed from the court if he lied in a letter he sent to members of Congress, according to a former federal prosecutor.
Discussing the matter of Alito flying an American flag upside down at his home, Harry Litman noted that the justice needs to recuse himself from hearing any case which involves indicted former president Donald Trump or January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection.
Asked by a CNN host what can be done about a member of the court who has a conflict of interest yet refuses to step aside on cases in which they have an obvious personal interest, Litman explained, “There are really few.”
Litman added that Alito “has written to the congress, saying nobody could reasonably question my impartiality that the flag was flying.”
“Think about it for a moment. And say you were involved in a gay rights case. You were on the other side and you pass a judge’s house and the gay pride flag is flying. In my mind, you can think reasonably that person won’t be impartial.”
“There is the discrepancy and I really think it is essential to get to the bottom of it,” Litman continued.
That’s when the specter of impeachment came up, with Litman saying, “If it’s the case, I am not saying it’s the case, but if it is that Justice Alito sent a letter to the Congress and didn’t tell the truth in it. That is exceptionally grave. I think that would be an impeachable offense.”
Unfortunately, even if articles of impeachment were filed against Alito, there’s no way Senate Republicans would ever vote to convict him, even if the evidence against him was overwhelming.
So instead of having an independent Supreme Court, we currently have six conservative members who think the law applies to everyone but them, Donald Trump, and any other Republican whose legal filings come before them. That does not bode well for the future of the American republic.
