| Last time it was Clarence Thomas. This time, it's another justice, Samuel Alito (the one who wrote the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade and abortion protections). In 2008, Alito went on a fishing trip with a hedge fund billionaire who flew him there in a private jet, reports investigative outlet ProPublica. Here's why that's a problem: 1. The trip could be interpreted as designed to curry favor: In the years after, this billionaire, Paul Singer, repeatedly asked the Supreme Court to rule for him in cases involving his businesses. 2. Alito didn't recuse himself from cases involving his acquaintance: Like when he voted with other justices that Argentina had to pay Singer's hedge fund, which ended up with more than $2 billion. 3. He didn't report the trip: By not disclosing the private jet flight on income forms the justices have to fill out each year, Alito may have violated a law that requires justices to disclose most gifts they receive, experts have said.  Members of the Supreme Court in October. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) | Alito maintains that he didn't do anything wrong and defended himself in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal before the ProPublica story even published. (Which is an unusual response. Supreme Court justices usually just keep quiet when under fire.) The reality is that justices police their ethics almost entirely on their own, and they can decide themselves when they should recuse from a case. It also seems Alito, Thomas and other justices think it's fine to not disclose trips they accepted, or real estate deals, or payments to family members. What we know about Trump's trial date in his classified-docs case We have a potential date: Aug. 14, in Florida. That would seem to qualify as a speedy trial, as prosecutors had requested. (Donald Trump's other criminal trial, over his payment to an adult-film star, is set for March in New York.) But my colleagues at The Washington Post report that the classified-documents trial is likely to be pushed back, for a few reasons: - The case hinges on highly classified documents. That means Trump's lawyers will need to get security clearances to even view the evidence, which means thorough background checks that could take months.
- The judge, Aileen Cannon, is a Trump appointee with less than three years' experience as a judge and hardly any experience in trials related to national security — let alone in overseeing arguably the most consequential criminal trial in modern history. So she could make a decision that delays the trial, even if it's criticized by legal experts. "She really has the ability to wreak havoc," former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade told The Post's Ann Marimow recently.
A name you should know: John Eastman  The House Jan. 6 committee highlighted Eastman as a key player in Trump's efforts to stay in power. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) | Who he is: One of Trump's many lawyers as the former president was trying to overturn his 2020 election loss. Eastman was a particularly outspoken participant in Trump's efforts to stay in power, helping organize illegitimate electors across swing states Trump lost and pushing Vice President Mike Pence to declare election results invalid. Last year, a federal judge ruling on a separate case wrote that Trump and Eastman "more likely than not" committed a crime by attempting to obstruct Congress's certification of results on Jan. 6, 2021. Why he's in the news now: He could lose his law license over his efforts to overturn election results. The State Bar of California is holding a trial this week on whether Eastman can still practice law in the state. He's one of several lawyers in Trump's orbit to face career repercussions for aiding the former president. And Eastman could face criminal charges in the ongoing federal investigation of efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the attack on the Capitol. | 
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