Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito confirmed to Fox News Wednesday that he spoke with President-elect Donald Trump the day before Trump’s high court appearance but said they did not discuss an emergency application the former president’s legal team planned to file to delay the sentencing.
Alito told Fox News’ Shannon Bream he was asked if he would accept a call from Trump regarding a position that his former clerk, William Levi, is being considered for, and praised Levi’s ‘outstanding resume.’
‘William Levi, one of my former law clerks, asked me to take a call from President-elect Trump regarding his qualifications to serve in a government position. I agreed to discuss this matter with President-elect Trump, and he called me yesterday afternoon,’ said Alito.
Alito said he did not speak with Trump about the emergency application, nor was he ‘even aware at the time of our conversation that such an application would be filed.’
‘We also did not discuss any other matter that is pending or might in the future come before the Supreme Court or any past Supreme Court decisions involving the President-elect,’ Alito said.
Alito told Fox News that he is often asked to give recommendations to potential employers for former clerks and that it was common practice.
Levi once served in the Justice Department during the President-elect’s first term and also clerked for Alito from 2011 to 2012.
Alito, speaking to Trump the day before Trump’s appearance in high court regarding his New York hush-money case, is causing some to call him out, saying the conversation was an ‘unmistakable breach of protocol.’
‘No person, no matter who they are, should engage in out-of-court communication with a judge or justice who’s considering that person’s case,’ Gabe Roth, executive director of the nonpartisan group Fix the Court, said in a statement.
Alito said he was unaware there was an emergency request being readied by the Trump legal team with respect to the New York State case, and there was no discussion of it.
He confirmed to Fox News that the call was solely about Levi, and that there was no discussion of any matter involving a Trump legal issue – past, present or future.
He also said there was no discussion of any issue before the Court or potentially coming before the Court.
ABC News was the first to report the Trump-Alito call.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.