Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito took ride on Paul Singer plane

Senate Democrats on Wednesday blasted Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for failing to reveal as a present his trip on a non-public plane owned by hedge-fund billionaire Paul Singer to travel with Singer to a luxury fishing tour.

Alito six years after that 2008 trip ruled with a majority of justices in favor of an arm of Singer’s hedge fund Elliott Management in a significant case searching for several billions of dollars in debt repayments from the nation of Argentina, one among several cases involving Singer’s company that got here before the court, ProPublica reported Tuesday night.

Alito, who together with the Supreme Court’s press office declined to comment to ProPublica for its article, argued in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal hours before the ProPublica report was published that he had “no obligation” to recuse himself from any of the cases Singer’s corporations pursued before the Supreme Court.

The conservative justice said he was not aware of Singer’s connection to the businesses that pursued cases on the Supreme Court, and that even when he did there wouldn’t have been even the looks of impropriety in him considering the cases.

“He allowed me to occupy what would have otherwise been an unoccupied seat on a non-public flight to Alaska,” Alito wrote. “It was and is my judgment that these facts wouldn’t cause an affordable and unbiased person to doubt my ability to come to a decision the matters in query impartially.”

The justice also argued that the instructions for justices to finish a financial disclosure report until a number of months ago had said that “personal hospitality needn’t be reported.”

But ProPublica said that Alito appears to have broken the financial disclosure law since the law requires disclosure of gifts of personal jet flights.

“Experts said they may not discover an instance of a justice ruling on a case after receiving an expensive gift paid for by one among the parties,” ProPublica reported.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who’s chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters the news about Alito was “rotten.”

“I’ll let you know this defense offered by Justice Alito is laughable, laughable,” Durbin said, referring to Alito’s op-ed, in line with NBC News.

“Give me a break,” Durbin said. 

Durbin called on Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to issue a code of ethics for the high court, which lacks one.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called Alito’s conduct “egregious.”

“My view is he broke the law. He should be held accountable,” Blumenthal said.

“Justice Alito violated the plain meaning and spirit of the law in failing to report the trip and his denial now of any possible wrongdoing just shows how the Supreme Court and Justice Alito think they haven’t got to reply to anyone, they’re accountable to nobody,” he said.

“And that’s intolerable in a democracy,” Blumenthal added.

Durbin and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who chairs the Subcommittee on Federal Courts, later issued an announcement saying the Judiciary Committee will move toward writing laws for ethics guidelines for the Supreme Court.

“The Supreme Court is in an ethical crisis of its own making on account of the acceptance of lavish gifts from parties with business before the Court that several Justices haven’t disclosed,” the senators said in a joint statement. “The status and credibility of the Court are at stake. Chief Justice Roberts could resolve this today, but he has not acted.”

ProPublica in April reported that Alito’s fellow conservative on the Supreme Court, Justice Clarence Thomas, for many years had received luxurious trips paid for by Harlan Crow, a billionaire Republican donor and Texas real estate magnate. Thomas likewise has claimed he did nothing flawed by accepting the largesse without disclosing it on annual financial disclosures.

Crow moreover purchased Georgia properties owned by Thomas’ family, including one where the justice’s mother still lives rent-free. Crow also paid for personal school tuition for Thomas’ grandnephew.

CNBC has requested comment from the Supreme Court on ProPublica’s reporting about Alito.