A Trump-Alito Phone Call Generates Controversy

The timing of a phone call between President-elect Trump and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is in the news, but the justice says it was a routine matter unrelated to court business. Details:

• The call: Trump called Alito on Tuesday because one of Alito's former clerks was applying for a government position, reports ABC News. "William Levi, one of my former law clerks, asked me to take a call from President-elect Trump regarding his qualifications," Alito said in a statement. "I agreed to discuss this matter with President-elect Trump, and he called me yesterday afternoon."
• Timing: The call came hours before Trump's legal team asked the Supreme Court to halt proceedings in his hush money case, including Friday's sentencing. Alito said they did not discuss the matter, per NBC News.

• Alito defends: "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. "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."
• Watchdog complains: The New York Times reports it's not unusual for a justice to give a reference to a former clerk, but it does seem unusual that president-elect himself would check the reference rather than an aide. An ethics watchdog objected. "The call was merely an excuse for Trump to speak with one of the nine people determining the fate of his hush money sentencing in the coming days and who will review many more Trump-related issues over the next four years," said Gabe Roth of the advocacy group Fix the Court.
• Ditto: Roth tells the AP the call is an "unmistakable breach of protocol" because "no person, no matter who they are, should engage in out-of-court communication with a judge or justice who's considering that person's case."
• A counter: It's a "manufactured" controversy, tweeted Carrie Severino of the conservative advocacy group JCN. "The Left is once again making up fake ethics rules as a way to smear a justice who they despise for authoring the Dobbs opinion and faithfully following the Constitution." Dobbs is a reference to the court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. (The court has been dogged by ethics questions over the past year, most involving undisclosed trips by Alito and Clarence Thomas.)