Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has confirmed that he had a telephone conversation with President-elect Donald Trump last Tuesday. During the call, the judge reportedly discussed the possibility of a job recommendation for one of his law clerks to be included in the new Trump administration.
Alito stated, “William Levi, one of my former law clerks, asked me to take a call from President-elect Trump regarding his qualifications to serve in a government position.”
The timing of that call, however, raises suspicions, as it came the day before Trump appealed directly to the Supreme Court to ask it to block and postpone the ruling scheduled for Friday, Jan. 10 in the case of fraudulent payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
However, Justice Alito categorically denied having discussed the issue of the case with the president-elect.
“We did not discuss the emergency application he filed today, and indeed, I was not even aware at the time of our conversation that such an application would be filed,” Alito said. He added that, “We also did not discuss any other matter that is pending or might in the future come before the Supreme Court or any past Supreme Court decisions involving the President-elect.”
It is a fairly well-established practice for judges to give recommendations for their assistants for government positions and law firms of a certain level; in this specific situation, a call between a Supreme Court justice and the president-elect raises suspicion, especially if a 34-count ruling against Trump is involved.
Gabe Roth, executive director of the nonpartisan group Fix the Court, called the call “a clear breach of protocol.”
“No one, regardless of who they are, should have out-of-court communications with a judge who is reviewing their case,” he said in a statement.
Indeed, Trump’s lawyers argue that Friday’s ruling could potentially interfere with the presidential transition process and compromise security and the national interest.
The Supreme Court has asked New York prosecutors to file a response by Thursday at 10 a.m. The Court is then expected to rule on Trump’s request by Friday morning.
Pending a response from the Supreme Court, the New York judge presiding over the case, Juan Merchan, has already made it known that he does not intend to impose a prison sentence against the president-elect, in order to allow a smooth presidential transition.
