The Guardian just published another hatchet job against Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito — and this one might be their most pathetic yet.
The foreign-based outlet ran an analysis claiming Alito profited from fossil fuel investments over the past 20 years, insinuating he can’t be trusted to rule impartially in an upcoming climate case involving oil companies.
There’s just one problem: Alito doesn’t own stock in any of the companies involved.
The case, Suncor Energy, Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, involves left-wing Boulder, Colorado officials suing ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy businesses for damages over alleged contributions to “climate change.”
The Guardian’s hit piece quotes Lisa Graves — co-founder of the hyper-partisan left-wing group Court Accountability — pushing the narrative that Alito’s energy-sector investments create a conflict of interest.
But even The Guardian was forced to admit: there is zero evidence Alito currently has financial interests in the companies involved in the case.
Following leftist recusal demands earlier this year, a Supreme Court spokeswoman told NBC News that Alito “does not have a financial interest in any party” in the matter. The court’s legal counsel confirmed “his recusal is not required.”
While Alito reportedly owned ExxonMobil stock back in 2004, NBC News confirmed he “does not own stock in either ExxonMobil or Suncor Energy,” according to his most recent financial disclosure report filed last year.
Court Accountability’s own analysis conceded the same point.
The Guardian’s Dharna Noor tried to salvage the smear by insinuating wrongdoing over Alito “voting in favor of fossil fuel interests” in recent Supreme Court decisions — but even she had to acknowledge Alito has done due diligence in recusing himself from cases where he does have a financial conflict.
That includes his recusal from an earlier version of the Colorado case in 2023 because, according to the court’s spokeswoman, “it was considered at the same time as other cases where the justice did have a financial interest in the parties.”
Some might find it baffling that The Guardian and Graves are up in arms over Alito’s fossil fuel investments while remaining unbothered by conflicts of interest involving Democrat-appointed justices — or the growing controversy surrounding Elena Kagan in the same Suncor case.
But it’s not hard to understand.
These left-wing actors aren’t outraged about Alito’s finances. What’s driving their anger is that Alito is ruling on energy policy cases in ways they don’t like.
Time and again, Alito and his conservative colleagues have rebuked the left’s climate lawfare. Rather than advance what they want the law to be, they’re interpreting what the law says — and ruling accordingly.
For the left, that isn’t how the judiciary is supposed to work. Under their worldview, the Supreme Court is nothing more than another lever of power to ram their agenda down Americans’ throats — the law’s original meaning be damned.
It’s because Alito and his conservative colleagues reject this approach that they’re assaulted with disgraceful media hit pieces.
The left can’t control the court, so they’re doing everything in their power to destroy it.
Contrary to their claims, the media and Democrats aren’t concerned about Supreme Court “ethics” or “transparency.”
It is, as it’s always been, about power.
