Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito sold off his shares in Bud Light’s parent company Anheuser-Busch as it faced a right-wing boycott last year, according to new findings from a financial report.
In mid-August, Justice Alito – one of the more conservative-leaning justices on the court – sold some of his stock in Anheuser-Busch and instead bought shares of a rival beer conglomerate Molson Coors, the parent company of Coors Light and Miller Light.
The revelation emerged in a periodic transaction report that was initially posted in the Federal Judicial Financial Disclosure Reports database and first reported by Law Dork.
His offloading of shares came just months into a right wing-fuelled boycott of Anheuser-Busch after Bud Light partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney to promote the beer during March Madness. Conservative media figures and politicians pushed for the boycott, claiming that the partnership showed the beer company had gone “woke”.
Though Justice Alito’s decision to sell his shares of the beer company may be unconnected to th boycott, the new findings come at a time when he is facing scrutiny for hanging an American flag upside down outside his home days after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Now more than ever, most people have a negative view of the Supreme Court. More than half of 8,400 Americans surveyed for a Pew Research study (54 per cent) said they now have an unfavorable view of the US Supreme Court.
The poll also found that four in 10 Americans think the nation’s highest court has too much power and that justices are making decisions that aligns with their personal political views, especially in cases around transgender rights, abortion access, presidential immunity and more.
Over the last year, the nine Supreme Court justices have come increasingly under the public microscope, especially when it comes to their personal and political viewpoints.
Justice Clarence Thomas’s personal and financial ties to a Republican mega donor came to light through ProPublica investigations – prompting calls for him to recuse himself from some cases.
The public backlash has even led the court to issue a Code of Ethics – one point of which specifically says: “A Justice should not engage in other political activity.”
Justice Alito has not issued a public statement on the matter.
The Independent has reached out to the Supreme Court public information officer for comment.
