Alito Says He Violated No Ethics Rules in Hearing Vanguard Case
Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito Jr., responding to Senate requests to explain his participation as a judge in cases that involved companies managing his investments, said he violated no ethics rules.
Senate Democrats asked why Alito ruled in cases involving Vanguard Group Inc., where he holds mutual funds, and Smith Barney Inc., his brokerage firm, though he pledged in 1990 to disqualify himself from matters involving those companies. Yesterday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, asked Alito to publicly respond to the questions.
``To the best of my knowledge, I have not ruled on a case for which I had a legal or ethical obligation to recuse myself during my 15 years on the federal bench,'' Alito wrote to Specter.
Alito's letter said his 1990 promise, on a Senate questionnaire before he was confirmed as a federal appeals court judge, was intended to avoid conflicts during his ``initial service'' on the bench.
Later, Alito wrote, he reassessed his position because he ``realized that I had been unduly restrictive on my 1990 questionnaire because there was not a legal or ethical obligation under the applicable rules, statutes and the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges to recuse myself from every case involving the companies I listed.''
Alito didn't mention another explanation that he has previously given: that a ``glitch'' in a computer program designed to alert judges to conflicts failed to alert him.
3rd Circuit Court
That earlier response didn't appease some Democrats who have asked the chief judge of Alito's court, the Philadelphia- based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, for information on Alito's role in deciding the Vanguard case. The Democrats have said they plan to raise the conflicts issue at Alito's confirmation hearings, scheduled to begin Jan. 9.
In a statement, Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, said Alito's letter raised ``serious'' questions of law and judgment.
``I'm troubled to learn that Judge Alito does not stand by his 1990 promise to recuse himself from any case involving the Vanguard companies,'' Kennedy said.
Specter said yesterday he didn't think Alito committed any ethical violations.
In the Vanguard case, Alito sat on a three-judge panel hearing an appeal of a lawsuit by the widow of a Vanguard customer who claimed she was owed money. The court unanimously ruled against the woman in 2002.
Vanguard Holdings
Alito later disqualified himself after the widow learned of his Vanguard holdings and asked him to step down. A new panel of judges heard the case and also ruled against her.
In 1997 Alito ruled on a case involving Smith Barney, which is his broker. Ethics guidelines, Alito wrote to Specter, ``indicate that a broker/customer relationship does not require recusal'' unless the outcome of the case could substantially affect the value of his holdings. That wasn't the case, Alito said.
``I am proud of the record I have established during my 15 years on the federal bench, not only in terms of my jurisprudence, but my integrity,'' Alito wrote.
Specter said yesterday that two legal ethics experts, Geoffrey Hazard of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Ronald Rotunda of George Mason University's law school, told him they found no ethical violations.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Robert Schmidt in Washington at rschmidt5@bloomberg
