Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito should not recuse himself from any Jan. 6 cases, former U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman told Newsmax on Wednesday night.
Alito has rejected calls to step aside from cases involving former President Donald Trump and defendants from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol because of the controversy over flags that flew over his homes.
In letters to members of Congress on Wednesday, Alito said his wife, Martha-Ann, was responsible for flying an upside-down flag over his home in 2021 and an "Appeal to Heaven" flag at his New Jersey beach house last year.
Both flags were like those carried by protesters who attacked the Capitol in January 2021 while echoing Trump's claims of election fraud.
"I know Justice Alito. I worked on his confirmation actually and have been following his career for many years. I can tell you, if you want to talk about judicial temperament and discretion, there's not a more thoughtful man that I've come across in the in the law than Sam Alito," Tolman said during an appearance with former Arkansas Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee on "Rob Schmitt Tonight."
"And look, he's correct. The opinions of his wife, his family, his friends, any of those have no relation to whether or not he can be impartial when he assesses a case before him."
Tolman then compared Alito to Judge Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing Trump's criminal trial in New York. The former president and his allies have accused Merchan of partisan rulings during the proceedings.
"I'm tired of hypocrisy," Tolman told Schmitt. "I see the left screaming and yelling for it, but they're all very comfortable when it's on their side, and we didn't see Judge Merchan leave the bench and there were far greater reasons for him to recuse than Justice Alito, which are manufactured and which are, you know, stale and they're being used as a political weapon as opposed to the fairness of the defendant in the courtroom like they've argued for Judge Merchan."
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Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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