Justice Samuel Alito admits taking luxury fishing trip with GOP billionaire who later had at least 10 cases before SCOTUS

• Justice Samuel Alito defended his relationship with GOP megadonor Paul Singer in a WSJ op-ed.
• He admitted to taking a fishing trip with Singer in 2018, but said their interactions were "brief."

Conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito admitted to taking a luxury fishing trip with GOP billionaire Paul Singer, who later had cases before the court.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published on Tuesday, Alito said that he flew to Alaska on a private plane owned by Singer for a luxury fishing trip in 2018. The plane seat "would have otherwise been vacant," he wrote.

"My recollection is that I have spoken to Mr. Singer on no more than a handful of occasions, all of which (with the exception of small talk during a fishing trip 15 years ago) consisted of brief and casual comments at events attended by large groups," Alito said.

"On no occasion have we discussed the activities of his businesses, and we have never talked about any case or issue before the Court," he added.

The op-ed was in response to a report that was being written by the investigative journalism outlet ProPublica.

At the top of Alito's column, headlined "ProPublica Misleads Its Readers", an editor's note said that ProPublica reporters had sent Alito a series of questions and had asked for a response.

The ProPublica report was published several hours later. It detailed several allegations, including that Alito did not declare the 2018 fishing trip on his annual financial disclosures or recuse himself when Singer had business before the court.

It said that luxury fishing lodge charged more than $1,000 a day. If the justice had chartered the plane himself to get to the lodge, the cost could have been more than $100,000 one way, it added.

The outlet also reported that Singer's hedge fund came before the Supreme Court at least 10 times.

Alito ruled in Singer's favor in one of the cases in a 2014 Supreme Court case that concerned an offshoot of his hedge fund, Elliott Management, and the nation of Argentina.

In response, Alito said that he had no obligation to disclose the flight and could not have been expected to recuse himself because he had never been aware of connections between Singer's businesses and cases before him.

Singer has also denied discussing business with Alito, ProPublica reported.

The investigative outlet also reported that the fishing lodge Alito stayed at in Alaska had chefs serving "multi-course meals of Alaskan king crab legs or Kobe filet [steak]."

A fishing guide who was working there at the time told ProPublica: "On the last evening, a member of Alito's group bragged that the wine they were drinking cost $1,000 a bottle."

In response, Alito wrote the fishing lodge in Alaska was "comfortable but rustic", serving "homestyle fare".

"I cannot recall whether the group at the lodge … was served wine, but if there was wine it was certainly not wine that costs $1,000," he added.

It is rare for a sitting justice to speak out against a media outlet. The judicial branch of the federal government, at least in theory, operates independently of public opinion.