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From MediaMatters

 

CNN's O'Brien Downplays Alito Violation of His Sworn
Promise to Recuse Himself from Vanguard Cases

 

While serving on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, current Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito issued rulings in cases involving two financial companies with which he held accounts -- despite the fact that, during his confirmation hearings for the appeals court post, Alito promised the Senate that he would recuse himself from such cases.

During his 1990 confirmation, Alito told senators he would recuse himself from any cases involving mutual-fund operator Vanguard Group, brokerage Smith Barney Inc., and his sister's law firm. But Alito issued rulings in a 1996 case involving Smith Barney and a 2002 case involving Vanguard. At the time of the Vanguard ruling, Alito held at least $390,000 in Vanguard mutual funds, according to The Washington Post.

Alito's failure to recuse himself from the case not only means he issued rulings affecting companies with which he had hundreds of thousands of dollars in investments, it also constitutes a violation of the promise he made to the U.S. Senate -- the very body now considering his nomination to the Supreme Court.

But CNN host Soledad O'Brien missed the point entirely, ignoring the fact that Alito broke his promise to recuse himself from such cases and downplaying the size of his $390,000 investment in Vanguard mutual funds. On the November 11 edition of CNN's American Morning, O'Brien asked:

O'BRIEN: Doesn't it bode poorly for Democrats when you say this is the smoking gun you're coming up with, something over a relatively small investment in Vanguard, which legally, technically, he didn't have to recuse himself from anyway?

$390,000 is a "relatively small investment"?

 

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