FRIENDS OF THE COURT

Conservative Legal Activist Group Paid Justice Alito’s Trip to Rome

Notre Dame’s Religious Liberty Initiative has filed numerous “friend-of-the-court” briefs in religious liberty cases before the Supreme Court.

An unflattering ProPublica report this week revealed that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito took a luxury fishing vacation with a billionaire who had cases before the Supreme Court. Now, CNN reports a conservative legal activist group funded a trip Alito took to Rome last year. Notre Dame’s Religious Liberty Initiative paid for Alito’s visit to the Italian city, where he delivered a keynote address in a palace at a gala following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The group has filed numerous “friend-of-the-court” briefs in religious liberty cases before the Supreme Court, including one for the case that reversed abortion protections. A rep for the Religious Liberty Initiative confirmed to CNN that Alito’s “transportation and lodging were covered” by the group, plus meals, “like the other speakers and panelists at the summit.” “Unlike other speakers, no honorarium was given,” the rep said. In a statement to CNN, Alito said he “was not invited to speak in Rome by the clinic.”