Justice Samuel Alito is the only US Supreme Court member with a stake in more than two dozen individual companies, a distinction that threatens to sideline him from major business cases.
Justice Alito’s Stock Portfolio Stands Apart on US Supreme Court
". . .Alito or his wife own tens of thousands of dollars of stock in companies including Raytheon Co., ConocoPhillips and a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. The holdings may force him to recuse as oil companies challenge lawsuits blaming them for climate change and J&J tries to settle talc lawsuits by placing a subsidiary into bankruptcy.
- In the past, more justices held shares in individual companies, but that has become rare.
- Meanwhile, scrutiny of the judicial ethics has increased after revelations that Justice Clarence Thomas, and to a lesser degree Alito, accepted undisclosed gifts and travel from billionaire benefactors.
“It’s a question not of ethics, but of judgment,” said Steven Lubet, emeritus professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, who focuses on legal and judicial ethics. “Not everything that’s legal is a good idea.”
Alito has recused from 64 cases involving corporations he owns shares of since 2021, according to Fix the Court, an advocacy group that supports court reform, including judicial term limits.
- During the last term, he recused from 15 cases due to stock ownership, far outstripping the number of recusals from all of his colleagues, according to the group’s data.
- Justices are not required to say why they disqualified themselves from a particular case but the tally is based on the publicly available information.
You can read more on the fixes — greater media and public access, Supreme Court term limits, new and robust ethics rules, stronger recusal rules, comprehensive online disclosures, and public appearance notifications — here.
As a reliably pro-business vote, Alito and his family’s stock holdings could make a difference in major cases over the coming years.
“He’s got major holdings in consumer products, oil and gas, aviation, beverages, and chemicals,” said Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix the Court.
“These are industries where there’s a ton of lawsuits making their way through the lower courts.”
Alito has already recused from a pending bid by oil companies to quash a lawsuit alleging they contributed to global warming, likely because he owns stock in ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66, two of the companies involved in the suit. The case, Sunoco LP v. City and County of Honolulu, centers on whether state and local governments can sue fossil fuel companies for damages over harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
Alito didn’t take part in June when the court asked the Biden administration for input on whether to take up the case.
- Alito’s recusal leaves the oil companies without a friendly face on the court.
- Alito has been a critic of federal environmental regulations for decades, and he has a long history of siding with the Chamber of Commerce, which filed in support of the oil companies in the climate change case.
- Alito last term agreed with the Chamber of Commerce in 73% of cases where the business group weighed in, according to the left-leaning Constitutional Accountability Center.
Johnson & Johnson said in July it would ask the high court to revive the company’s plan to use a bankruptcy maneuver to settle tens of thousands of talc cancer lawsuits. In the time since, the company has continued to engage in settlement talks. A J&J spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Since 2021, the Supreme Court has turned away multiple appeals from the drugmaker over cases involving its liability for selling products that caused cancer and other illnesses. Alito has recused from those cases, likely due to his stock ownership.
- Alito last year exchanged his Johnson & Johnson stock for stock in Kenvue Inc., a former subsidiary of J&J that was spun off. It’s unclear if that exchange will allow Alito to take part in future cases involving the drugmaker.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh also may recuse from any case involving the company, as his father, Edward Kavanaugh, was a cosmetic industry lobbyist whose organization fought efforts to require warnings on talc products.
Code of Ethics
Alito’s dozens of recusals create tension with the Supreme Court’s own voluntary code of ethics, which it adopted in November amid the swirl of ethical scandals.
- The code encourages Supreme Court justices to try to avoid recusals when they can because there are only nine members and “much can be lost when even one Justice does not participate in a particular case.”
He also sold his stock in Oracle Corp. in 2019 to take part in the company’s copyright case against Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
In 2011, Alito acknowledged an unintentional conflict of interest, saying a staff oversight led him to take part in a 2009 ruling involving Walt Disney Co.’s ABC News even though his children held Disney stock. Alito voted against ABC in the case, joining a 5-4 majority that revived US efforts to crack down on televised vulgarities.
--With assistance from Greg Stohr.
Justice Alito Amends Prior Years' Disclosures, Still Owns Too Much Stock
As is his long-standing custom, the justice asked for and was granted an extension; now all nine sitting justices’ disclosures are out
Also of note, Alito amended prior reports to note the existence of a loan he took out in 2015, and he received one gift and no reimbursements for travel last year.
Stocks:
Alito recused in 20 petitions at the cert. stage last year due to his stocks and has recused in 10 petitions and one merits case this year for that reason.
- The only other justice to own individual stocks is Chief Justice Roberts. He only has shares in two companies, and his most recent stock-based recusal occurred in 2021.
Amendments:
- The loan was noted in his 2015, 2020 and 2021 reports but not in his 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 reports.
Gifts and reimbursements:
- It’s worth noting that despite what he said at the meeting — “I know this is a controversial view, but I’m willing to say it.
- No provision in the Constitution gives them the authority to regulate the Supreme Court — period” — Alito has, on account of a law Congress enacted in 1978, filed an annual disclosure report every year since joining the bench in 1990.
“In order to conduct basic oversight of government officials, financial disclosure reports are both ‘necessary’ and ‘proper,'” Roth added.
“Based solely on his annual disclosure filings, it would seem as if Justice Alito agrees there is, in fact, a role for Congress to play in regulating the Court.”
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