Top Senate Judiciary Democrats seek meeting with Roberts over Alito concerns

Two senior Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), are requesting a meeting with Chief Justice John Roberts "as soon as possible" amid reports that properties owned by Justice Samuel Alito displayed two flags with links to the Jan. 6 insurrection.

"We urge you to immediately take appropriate steps to ensure that Justice Alito will recuse himself in any cases related to the 2020 presidential election and January 6th attack on the Capitol," Durbin and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) wrote in a letter released Friday.

The pair vowed to continue pursuing legislation enacting an enforceable ethics code for the court unless "the Court and the Judicial Conference take meaningful action to address this ongoing ethical crisis."

Durbin has resisted efforts to call both Alito and Roberts before his committee for a formal hearing. Alito blamed his wife for displaying an upside-down U.S. flag at his property in Virginia just days before the inauguration of President Joe Biden in 2021, as reported in The New York Times.