In a June 20 essay in the Wall Street Journal, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito denied corruption allegations leveled against him by investigative news outlet ProPublica concerning a fishing trip he took with billionaire Paul Singer 15 years ago. Supreme Court justices do not often write newspaper columns, but when the liberal media are relentlessly tearing down Alito and his colleagues, maybe a response is necessary. At its core, ProPublica’s expose is just another attempt by left-wing media to defame the Supreme Court’s conservative members.
On their way to the fishing trip, Singer offered Alito a seat on his private plane, and Alito accepted. ProPublica said that Alito should’ve disclosed this on his 2008 financial disclosure report because the seat was a “gift.” ProPublica also said that Alito should’ve recused himself from a case involving one of Singer’s hedge funds in 2014, assuming that Alito had full knowledge of Singer’s involvement.
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Given the widespread corruption in Washington, it would’ve been prudent of Alito to set a cautious example. But it doesn’t really matter how prudent he is if the liberal media are hellbent on destroying all six conservatives on the Supreme Court. Alito’s defense was just and necessary. He is aware of the media’s persistent attacks on the Supreme Court.
As the Washington Examiner previously noted, the media could be getting dirt on any member of the Supreme Court, but it is hyperfocused on the conservatives because, as an organization called Demand Justice puts it, liberals think that the Supreme Court’s “Republican supermajority is putting our rights and our democracy at risk.” Demand Justice, by the way, is funded by the same partisan foundation that donates huge amounts of money to ProPublica.
ProPublica is a nonprofit news organization that “exposes political corruption.” It claims to be unbiased, but it has clearly allied itself with the Left’s trendy campaign to sabotage the Supreme Court.
This past spring, ProPublica released several articles investigating Justice Clarence Thomas and his personal relationship with Harlan Crow, claiming that he accepted “gifts” from Crow off the record. ProPublica claimed that Thomas had an obligation to include this in his financial disclosure. In reality, Supreme Court rules at the time did not require this.
If we want to find real financial corruption, we should look to ProPublica’s main donors. Katelynn Richardson’s investigation of ProPublica’s funding released Tuesday exposes a list of them. They all donate to initiatives the main goal of which is smearing Clarence Thomas.
ProPublica’s president, Robin Sparkman, told Richardson that ProPublica receives “philanthropic support from donors of every stripe.” The Sandler Foundation, the organization that founded ProPublica, is, in the meantime, giving major funding to anti-Thomas groups. ProPublica is also giving back to anti-Thomas groups.
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These groups are actively releasing ad campaigns against Thomas, advocating Supreme Court reforms and court-packing, among other things. Richardson’s list included: “The Marisla Foundation, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Foundation to Promote Open Society, CLC, ACS, Demand Justice, CREW, Alliance For Justice, Center for Popular Democracy and the National Women’s Law Center.” Apparently, this is not even a complete list.
There is nothing wrong with grabbing an unoccupied seat on a fishing trip. The left-wing media’s obsession with Alito is overblown. Alito is a conservative member of the Supreme Court, which automatically places him in their line of fire. He’s become an unfortunate victim of their crusade.
Briana Oser is a summer 2023 Washington Examiner intern.
