ProPublica has revealed Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito took an undisclosed luxury fishing vacation with Republican megadonor Paul Singer in 2008 and then later ruled in Singer’s favor in several cases. According to ProPublica, the billionaire hedge fund manager gave Alito a free ride on his luxury jet to Alaska for a trip where one participant bragged about drinking $1,000 bottles of wine. Alito never reported the all-expenses-paid trip on disclosure forms. Since the trip, Paul Singer’s hedge fund came before the Supreme Court at least 10 times, and Alito never recused himself. ProPublica reports Alito’s trip was organized by Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society, who has played a key role in pushing the court to the right.
Hours prior to the publication of ProPublica’s report, Alito published a column in The Wall Street Journal headlined “ProPublica Misleads Its Readers.” In the piece, Alito acknowledged taking the trip, but denied violating any ethics rules.