Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito confirmed to Fox News on Wednesday that he has spoken with the newly elected president Donald Trump the day before Trump’s appearance at the Supreme Court, but said they had not discussed an emergency request that the former president’s legal team wanted to file to delay the sentencing.
Alito told Fox News’ Shannon Bream that he was asked if he would accept a call from Trump about a position for which his former clerk, William Levi, is being considered, and praised Levi’s “excellent resume.”
“William Levi, one of my former law clerks, asked me to take a call from President-elect Trump regarding his qualifications to hold government office. I agreed to discuss this matter with President-elect Trump, and he called me yesterday afternoon,” Alito said.
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Associate Justice Samuel Alito poses with other members of the Supreme Court for a new group portrait in October 2022. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
Alito said he had not spoken to Trump about the emergency request, nor was he “even aware at the time of our conversation that such a request would be filed.”
“We also did not discuss any other matter that is pending or could come before the Supreme Court in the future, or previous Supreme Court decisions involving the President-elect,” Alito said.
Alito told Fox News that he is often asked to make recommendations to potential employers for former law clerks and that this was common.
Levi once served in the Ministry of Justice during the president-elect’s first term and also clerked for Alito from 2011 to 2012.
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President-elect Trump meets with lawmakers. (Getty Images)
Alito, who spoke to Trump about his hush-money case in New York the day before Trump’s Supreme Court appearance, is causing some to take aim at him, saying the conversation was a “clear violation of protocol.”
“No one, regardless of who he or she is, should communicate outside of court with a judge or justice who is considering that person’s case,” Gabe Roth, executive director of the nonpartisan group Fix the Court, said in a statement.
Alito he said was unaware that an emergency motion was being prepared by Trump’s legal team regarding the case in New York State, and there was no discussion about it.
Associate Justice Samuel Alito Jr. during the formal group photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, USA, on Friday, October 7, 2022. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
He confirmed to Fox News that the call was solely about Levi, and that there was no discussion of any Trump legal matter – past, present or future.
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He also said that no issue has been discussed or may come before the Court.
ABC News was the first to report the call between Trump and Alito.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
