Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito spoke with the president-elect Donald Trump by phone Tuesday to recommend one of his former attorneys for a job in the new administration, ABC News has learned.
“William Levi, one of my former secretaries, asked me to take a call from President-elect Trump about his qualifications to serve in a government position,” Justice Alito confirmed to ABC News on Wednesday. “I agreed to discuss this matter with President-elect Trump, and he called me yesterday afternoon.”
The call was made by Trump’s lawyers a few hours earlier on Wednesday morning emergency request Courts have asked a New York judge to block him from sentencing Trump on Friday in his penalty money case.
Alito said he and Trump did not discuss the issue.
“We didn’t discuss the emergency motion that he filed today, and frankly, at the time of our conversation, I didn’t even know that motion was going to be filed,” Alito said. “We have not discussed any other matter that is pending or may come before the Supreme Court in the future or any past Supreme Court decisions involving the President-elect.”
It’s not unusual for a sitting justice to offer a job recommendation to a former secretary, but it’s rare, court analysts said, for a justice to have such a conversation directly with the president or president-elect, especially an active one. Participating in business pending before the judge.
Late last month, Trump entered a landmark case over the future of the video-sharing app TikTok, asking the judges. postponing the next ban for unusual reasons, “only he has the excellent deal-making ability, the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the electoral mandate and platform, while addressing the national security concerns expressed by the Government.”
Samuel Alito Jr. associate justice in a formal group photo at the Washington Supreme Court on Oct. 7, 2022.
Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images
On Wednesday, Trump asked judges to immediately drop all criminal proceedings against him in New York, including Friday’s ruling, warning that failure to do so during a presidential transition would “damage” the presidency and “national security and vital American interests.”
The Supreme Court has requested a response from New York prosecutors by Thursday at 10 a.m. ET. Trump’s request is expected to be reviewed by Friday morning.
Levi is being considered for several legal jobs in the incoming administration, including general counsel at the Defense Department, the sources said. Levi, who served as Justice Alito’s secretary from 2011-2012, served in the first Trump administration as chief of staff to Attorney General Bill Barr.
“Supreme Court justices are, among other things, employers of their own law clerks,” said ABC News contributor Kate Shaw, who previously clerked for former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. “So giving a reference to an ex-employee is not atypical, regardless of the job an ex-employee may be applying for: an academic job, a private sector job or even a government job.”
But Shaw said the call between the judge and the president-elect is highly unusual, especially when the president-elect is taking several legal actions that have the potential to go to the Supreme Court.
A spokesman for Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Alito has previously called for his dismissal from cases related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and the 2020 election. Last year he rejected calls from Democrats to withdraw from those cases after the flags placed at his personal residences sparked controversy. After Chief Justice John Roberts he refused the invitation Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee for a meeting to discuss the judge’s ethical practices in light of the flag controversy involving Alito.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) wrote in a May 23 letter urging Alito’s impeachment that Alito “actively engaged in political activity that did not avoid the appearance of impropriety.” and he did not act in a way that promotes public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary.”
“He also raised reasonable doubts about his impartiality and ability to adequately perform his duties in cases related to the 2020 presidential election and the January 6 attack on the Capitol,” the two wrote.
Trump is due to be sentenced on Friday after being himself found guilty In May, adult film actress Stormy Daniels was indicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records to boost her electoral chances in the 2016 presidential election.
The president-elect has asked the Supreme Court to examine whether he has the right to suspend the proceedings on appeal; whether presidential immunity prevents the use of evidence related to official acts; and whether the candidate for president has the same immunity as an incumbent president.
Trump is facing a four-year prison sentence, but New York judge Juan Merchan has indicated that he intends to sentence Trump. unconditional discharge — a blemish on Trump’s record, no jail time, fines or parole — to respect Trump’s transition efforts and the principle of presidential immunity.
Defense lawyers argued that the sentence still “raises the specter of other restrictions on liberty.”
