Thursday, November 03, 2005

Alito Conflict of Interest

This Boston Globe article describes a 2002 case that Alito ruled on in spite of an alleged conflict of interest. The plaintiff Shantee Maharaj, was suing Vanguard. Alito had hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in Vanguard funds and ruled in Vanguards favor.

"In 1990, when Alito was seeking US Senate approval for his nomination to be a circuit judge, he said in written answers to a questionnaire that he would disqualify himself from 'any cases involving the Vanguard companies.'" In 2003 responding to complaints by Maharaj he said ''I do not believe that I am required to disqualify myself based on my ownership of the mutual fund shares."

You know he'll be asked about this in the hearings.

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