From yesterday's statement by Justice Alito in Moore v. U.S., responding to a letter from Sen. Durbin that's available here:
Senator Durbin's letter expressed the view that recusal is necessary because I participated in two interviews that resulted in two articles about my work that appeared in the Wall Street Journal. The interviews were jointly conducted, and the resulting articles were jointly written, by James Taranto and David B. Rivkin, Jr…. Senator Durbin argues … that Mr. Rivkin's participation requires me to recuse because Mr. Rivkin, who is both a much-published opinion-journalist and a practicing attorney, is one of the attorneys in this case.
This argument is unsound. When Mr. Rivkin participated in the interviews and co-authored the articles, he did so as a journalist, not an advocate. The case in which he is involved was never mentioned; nor did we discuss any issue in that case either directly or indirectly. His involvement in the case was disclosed in the second article, and therefore readers could take that into account.
There was nothing out of the ordinary about the interviews in question. Over the years, many Justices [citing Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Gorsuch and Chief Justice Roberts] have participated in interviews with representatives of media entities that have frequently been parties in cases before the Court, including NPR, the New York Times, CBS, Fox News, National Review, and ABC. Similarly, many of my colleagues have been interviewed by attorneys who have also practiced in this Court {[f]or instance, Bryan Garner has interviewed several Justices, and he argued a case three Terms ago}, and some have co-authored books with such attorneys [citing Justices Ginsburg and Gorsuch]. Those interviews did not result in or require recusal.
