What To Watch For
The Supreme Court could be asked to take up the legality of Trump’s recent settlement with the IRS—housed in the Treasury Department—which controversially established a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” and gave Trump and his eldest sons immunity from any IRS audits of their existing tax returns. Multiple lawsuits against that settlement and the $1.8 billion fund are now pending in court, and could eventually be sent to the Supreme Court to decide. The Treasury Department has not yet responded to a request for comment on whether Philip Alito had any involvement in that settlement.
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Key Background
The news of Philip Alito’s employment is the latest in a string of ethics controversies Samuel Alito has faced in recent years, as the conservative-leaning justice has frequently garnered scrutiny for potential conflicts of interest. Alito drew widespread criticism in 2024 after The New York Times reported he and his wife flew a flag associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement outside their home, with another controversial flag associated with Trump supporters also flying outside his New Jersey beach house. He’s also come under fire for reports he took a luxury fishing trip with billionaire Paul Singer, whose hedge fund has had business before the court, without disclosing it, and for being interviewed in The Wall Street Journal by David Rivkin, a lawyer who appears before the court, among multiple other controversies. Alito has strongly denied all accusations of ethical impropriety and refused to recuse himself over his flag-flying from cases related to the 2020 election, claiming in a letter to Congress that the flags were his wife’s idea and he wasn’t aware of their political connotations. He has also opposed congressional Democrats’ efforts to impose a more binding code of ethics on Supreme Court justices—who don’t have to follow the same stringent ethics requirements as lower court judges—falsely claiming in 2023 that Congress doesn’t have the “authority” to regulate the high court.
Further Reading
Samuel Alito’s Son Has Been Quietly Working for Trump’s Treasury Department (NOTUS)
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Samuel Alito’s Biggest Controversies—As Supreme Court Justice Speaks With Trump Before Sentencing Ruling (Forbes)
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