Justice Samuel Alito rejects calls from Democratic senators to recuse in case involving journalist who interviewed him

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito sharply rejected calls from Democratic senators that he not participate in an upcoming tax case where one of the lawyers involved also participated in recent Wall Street Journal interviews of the conservative jurist.

Alito, in a court filing Friday, said the argument for him to recuse was “unsound” and that there was “no valid reason” for him not to participate in the case.

“When Mr. Rivkin participated in the interviews and co-authored the articles, he did so as a journalist, not an advocate,” Alito wrote, referring to David B. Rivkin, the opinion journalist in question who is representing one of the parties in the tax case.

“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.”

This story is breaking and will be updated.