Watchdog Groups Urge Senate Probe of Justice Alito’s Energy Stock Holdings and Recusal Decisions

A coalition of watchdog organizations sent a letter on Thursday to the Senate judiciary committee calling for an investigation into Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. The coalition includes League of Conservation Voters, Center for Biological Diversity, the Revolving Door Project and True North Research.

The groups said Alito, who owns stock in oil and energy companies and is the sole supreme court justice with holdings in energy companies, may be violating ethics codes by participating in certain cases.

The supreme court in February agreed to take up a case brought by oil majors Suncor Energy and Exxon. The companies asked the justices to find that federal law prevents subnational governments from filing lawsuits against oil and gas companies for the climate-warming effects of their products.

Alito did not recuse himself from the supreme court's February decision to hear the Suncor Energy and Exxon case.

In 2023, Alito recused himself from considering a petition brought by the same companies in the same lawsuit. The 2023 petition was denied because it would have required approval from four judges. "His irregular recusal practice in oil and gas industry-related cases is undermining public confidence in the impartiality of the Court," the letter states.

Alito's most recent financial disclosure was filed last August and covers 2024. It showed holdings in individual stock worth between $60,007 and $245,000 in ConocoPhillips, Phillips66 and five other oil and energy companies. He also has up to $100,000 invested in a Vanguard fund in which Exxon is the third-largest holding.

In January, the supreme court’s clerk notified parties in a case focused on the fossil fuel industry’s responsibility for damage to the Louisiana coastline that Alito owned stock in ConocoPhillips. Alito recused himself from the Louisiana coastline case just days before oral arguments began.

It is not clear if he has sold any of his stock in oil and gas companies since filing his last financial disclosure.

The groups pointed to another apparent conflict involving Paul Singer, who founded and runs the hedge fund Elliott Investment Management. 3 billion. ProPublica reported in June 2023 that Alito failed to officially disclose a private jet ride to Alaska for a 2008 fishing trip paid for by Paul Singer.

The supreme court adopted its first-ever formal ethics code in 2023. The supreme court’s ethics code says justices should recuse themselves from cases where their impartiality might reasonably be questioned. The code allows justices to make that decision themselves and has been criticized for lacking an enforcement mechanism.

This year, the supreme court rolled out new software to scan challengers’ filings to identify potential conflicts of interest. Parties before the court must list stock-ticker symbols for companies involved in cases to allow the new software to help identify conflicts. Justices will be required to report on their 2026 holdings next year.

"No judge on any court, including the high court, should be allowed to hear cases where he or she have a financial stake in those cases," said Lisa Graves, a former senior justice department official who now directs True North Research. The groups said Alito's decision to participate in the latest Suncor petition, when a finding in favor of the companies could directly and indirectly benefit both himself and his billionaire friend, is an indefensible breach of ethical boundaries.

Hannah Story Brown, deputy research director at Revolving Door Project, said the outcome of each climate accountability lawsuit targeting big oil could affect the entire industry.

"A blanket refusal is the only consistently ethical option for Alito when faced with any of these parallel cases," Brown said. The Guardian reported that more than 70 state and local governments have brought lawsuits accusing oil companies of misleading the public about their role in the climate crisis.