Senator Accuses Alito of Misconduct, Escalating Ethics Fight

Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse accused Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alitoof violating judicial standards in public comments the justice made on ethics controversies surrounding the court, escalating a fight over the conservative court’s ethics.

Whitehouse took the unusual step of filing an ethics complaint against Alito with Chief Justice John Roberts, citing comments Alito made in a July interview with the Wall Street Journal’s opinion section in which the justice argued the US Constitution doesn’t allow Congress to regulate the court.

Whitehouse is the lead author of legislation to impose an ethics code on the high court after reports ...