BREAKING: Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Rejects Meeting With Senate Dems Over Demands For Alito Recusal

On Thursday, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rejected a request for a meeting by Sen. Dick Durbin (R-IL) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (R-RI) to discuss the recusal of Justice Samuel Alito after left-wing media attempted to force Alito to recuse himself from cases involving the 2020 election and January 6th after the Alito household flew an upside-down American flag in early 2021 as well as a Revolutionary War flag at the couple's beach house.

The Supreme Court is currently considering two cases related to the 2020 election and January 6th. The first is being brought by the 45th president to determine if he has immunity against special counsel Jack Smith. The other case, brought by a J6 defendant, is challenging an obstruction charge that has been used repeatedly to convict those who participated in the Capitol riot.

"I must respectfully decline your request for a meeting," Roberts wrote. "Apart from ceremonial events, only on rare occasions in our Nation's history has a sitting Chief Justice met with legislators, even in a public setting (such as a Committee hearing) with members of both major political parties present. Separation of powers concerns and the importance of preserving judicial independence counsel against such appearances."

"Moreover, the formal proposal - a meeting with leaders of only one party who have expressed an interest in matters currently pending before the Court - simply underscores that participating in such a meeting would be inadvisable," the Chief Justice added.

As previously reported by the DC Enquirer, Justice Alito responded to the two Democrat senators on Wednesday by refusing to recuse himself. "The two incidents you cite do not meet the conditions for recusal," Alito wrote. "As I have stated publicly, I had nothing whatsoever to do with the flying of that flag. I was not even aware of the upside-down flag until it was called to my attention." The upside-down flag, flown by Alito's wife, was put up after a "nasty" neighborhood dispute between Mrs. Alito and her neighbors.

 "My wife is a private citizen, and she possesses the same First Amendment rights as every other American. She makes her own decisions, and I have always respected her right to do so," Justice Alito explained. "My wife is fond of flying flags. I am not."

The second incident cited by the Democrat senators to justify Alito's recusal occurred at the Alitos' beach home in New Jersey, where an "Appeal to Heaven" flag was flown briefly in 2021. "I had no involvement in the decision to fly that flag. I was not aware of any connection between that historic flag and the 'Stop the Steal Movement,' and neither was my wife," Alito said. "She did not fly it to associate herself with that or any other group, and the use of an old historic flag by a new group does not necessarily drain that flag of all other meanings."

Read Chief Justice Roberts' letter below:

You can follow Sterling on X/Twitter here.