WSJ editorial board defends Alito, calls ProPublica report 'non-scandal built on partisan spin'

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board defended Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and his previously undisclosed fishing trip with a GOP donor in an editorial Wednesday night, blasting ProPublica's report as “a non-scandal built on partisan spin.”

“The political assault on the Supreme Court continues, and the latest Justice in the grinder is Samuel Alito,” the board wrote. “As usual, this is a non-scandal built on partisan spin intended to harm the Justice and the current Court majority.”

Alito came under scrutiny after a ProPublica investigation revealed that the justice had taken an expensive and previously undisclosed luxury fishing trip with prominent conservative donor Paul Singer in 2008. He also stayed at a pricey inn bankrolled by another major GOP donor, the report alleged.

Alito penned a defensive op-ed in the Journal before the report’s publication denying any wrongdoing, alleging in the headline that ProPublica “misleads its readers.”

The editorial board lambasted ProPublica for its “typically slanted” reporting alleging that Alito had violated the court’s ethics policy of disclosing gifts. Numerous lawmakers have called for reform on the court since the outlet revealed earlier this year Justice Clarence Thomas’ close ties with GOP megadonor Harlan Crow.

“Justice Alito is still on the Court so he is the big fish that ProPublica is attempting to catch and fillet,” the board added. “We are defending the Court because someone has to. Someone has to stand up for judicial independence and an institution that is part of the bedrock of our constitutional order.”

Stephen Engelberg, ProPublica’s editor-in-chief, condemned the op-ed's headline, “which the piece declared without anyone having read the article and without asking for our comment.”

“We’re curious to know whether The Journal fact-checked the essay before publication,” he told The New York Times.

Meanwhile, a new poll from Quinnipiac published Wednesday found the Supreme Court’s public approval rating sinking to 30 percent among registered voters, the lowest since the poll began nearly two decades ago.