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Justice Samuel Alito took luxury fishing vacation with GOP billionaire who later had cases before the court By Justin Elliott, Joshua Kaplan, Alex Mierjeski for ProPublica This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Series: Friends of the Court n early July 2008, Samuel Alito stood on a riverbank in a remote corner of Alaska. The Supreme Court justice was on vacation at a luxury fishing lodge that charged more than $1,000 a day, and after catching a king salmon nearly the size of his leg, Alito posed for a picture. To his left, a man stood beaming: Paul Singer, a hedge fund billionaire who has repeatedly asked the Supreme Court to rule in his favor in high-stakes business disputes. Singer was more than a fellow angler. He flew Alito to Alaska on a private jet. If the justice chartered the plane himself, the cost could have exceeded $100,000 one way. In the years that followed, Singer’s hedge fund came before the court at least 10 times in cases where his role was often covered by the legal press and mainstream media. In 2014, the court agreed to resolve a key issue in a
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decade-long battle between Singer’s hedge fund and the nation of Argentina. Alito did not recuse himself from the case and voted with the 7-1 majority in Singer’s favor. The hedge fund was ultimately paid $2.4 billion. Alito did not report the 2008 fishing trip on his annual financial disclosures. By failing to disclose the private jet flight Singer provided, Alito appears to have violated a federal law that requires justices to disclose most gifts, according to ethics law experts. Experts said they could not identify an instance of a justice ruling on a case after receiving an expensive gift paid for by one of the parties. “If you were good friends, what were you doing ruling on his case?” said Charles Geyh, an Indiana University law professor and leading expert on recusals. “And if you weren’t good friends, what were you doing accepting this?” referring to the flight on the private jet. Justices are almost
entirely left to police themselves on ethical issues, with few restrictions on what gifts they can accept. When a potential conflict arises, the sole arbiter of whether a justice should step away from a case is the justice him or herself. ProPublica’s investigation sheds new light on how luxury travel has given prominent political donors — including one who has had cases before the Supreme Court — intimate access to the most powerful judges in the country. Another wealthy businessman provided expensive vacations to two members of the high court, ProPublica found. On his Alaska trip, Alito stayed at a commercial fishing lodge owned by this businessman, who was also a major conservative donor. Three years before, that same businessman flew Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016, on a private jet to Alaska and paid the bill for his stay. Such trips would be unheard of for the vast
Justice Samuel Alito in 2013. | Photo by Italy in US (CC BY-ND 2.0)
majority of federal workers, who are generally barred from taking even modest gifts. Leonard Leo, the longtime leader of the conservative Federalist Society, attended and helped organize the Alaska fishing vacation. Leo invited Singer to join, according to a person familiar with the trip, and asked Singer if he and Alito could fly on the billionaire’s jet. Leo had recently played an impor-
tant role in the justice’s confirmation to the court. Singer and the lodge owner were both major donors to Leo’s political groups. ProPublica’s examination of Alito’s and Scalia’s travel drew on trip planning emails, Alaska fishing licenses, and interviews with dozens of people including private jet pilots, fishing guides, former high-level employees of both Singer and the lodge owner, and
other guests on the trips. ProPublica sent Alito a list of detailed questions last week, and on Tuesday, the Supreme Court’s head spokeswoman told ProPublica that Alito would not be commenting. Several hours later, The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by Alito responding to ProPublica’s questions See Samuel Alito Page 14
19-year-old man arrested for alleged involvement in Palm Desert mall shooting
Fourth of July shows shows underway in Riverside County
By City News Service
By City News Service
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elony charges were filed Thursday against a 19-year-old man for his alleged involvement in a car-to-car shooting in the parking lot of The Shops in Palm Desert earlier this year. Daniel Joseph Santacroce of Desert Hot Springs was charged with four felony counts of attempted murder
and one felony count each of shooting at a vehicle and being in possession of a short-barreled rifle or shotgun, according to court records. The victims were identified in court documents only by their initials “A.R.,” “M.R.,” “P.G.” and “G.R.” He’s set to be arraigned Thursday afternoon at the
Larson Justice Center in Indio. Deputies from the sheriff’s Palm Desert station responded around 2 p.m. Feb. 2 to reports of shots fired at the mall in the 72-800 block of Highway 111, according to Sgt. Travis See Mall shooting Page 28
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ourth of July celebrations got underway this weekend in Riverside County, ahead of America’s 247th birthday. On Saturday, the city of Murrieta combined preIndependence Day festivities with a 32nd Birthday Bash for the municipality, which incorporated in 1991. There was an outdoor
concert, food vendors, a kids play zone and pyrotechnics after nightfall in California Oaks Sports Park. The city of Menifee’s traditional Independence Day Celebration also was held Saturday in Wheatfield Park, featuring a parade along La Piedra Road, children’s activities, live music and fireworks at sundown.
“The annual Independence celebration has something for everyone and is a great opportunity to meet your neighbors and celebrate with the community,” Menifee Mayor Bill Zimmerman said. “The city is proud to keep this great tradition See Fourth of July Page 27