Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh attended a holiday party hosted by Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the right-wing group Conservative Political Action Coalition.
The attendees included Stephen Miller, a controversial former adviser to Donald Trump whose group America First Legal Foundation is interested in pending cases before the court, including challenges to affirmative actions and a case that could give states more power to change elections laws.
Kavanaugh’s presence at the event raised questions about a potential conflict of interest.
Other attendees were Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), Trump’s former White House press secretary Sean Spicer and Rep.-elect George Santos (R-New York).
Americans’ trust in the Supreme Court is trending down, according to a recent Gallup poll. Only 42% of Americans trust the court, 20% points less than two years ago.
“Supreme Court justices should be extraordinarily careful in not only having no actual ethical difficulties but having no appearance of an ethical conundrum as well,” said Tonja Jacobi, a professor at Emory University School of Law, in an interview with Bloomberg Law.
