— a “Stop the Steal” symbol — flying in Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s yard was the just latest in a constant barrage of ethical controversies tied to the Court., a watchdog group that promotes judicial ethics and transparency.
The reporter’s investigation advanced in fits and starts. Pivotally, on April 10, 1969, he approached Assistant Attorney General Will Wilson. Instead of gaining more information, Lambert unwittingly handed the new Nixon administration the ammunition it needed to launch a project to remake the Court ideologically. Wilson admitted as much to Fortas’ biographer years later. “I knew what kind of a potential coup we had,” he recalled, because in “all candor, we wanted Fortas off the Court.
While Fortas’ detractors demanded his resignation under the threat of impeachment, the justices decided to handle the affair internally. On May 7, Nixon dispatched Mitchell to meet with Chief Justice Earl Warren to share documentation of the Fortas-Wolfson relationship. After the meeting, the chief justice told his assistant, “He can’t stay.” Warren then privately met with his colleagues to call for Fortas’ removal.
The fallout from the Fortas affair also led Congress to update the statute governing recusals in 1974, paving the way for upgrades to the laws and codes governing judicial ethics and financial disclosures over the next half century. Thoughthan those applied to officials outside of the judiciary, according to a Senate Subcommittee in 2021, these changes enhanced the creaky ethical framework that had been in place in 1969.