Samuel Alito's Wife and the Ginsburg Standard
By Mark Paoletta Wall Street Journal May 22, 2024
Martha-Ann Bomgardner, a Kentucky native and former law librarian, is married to Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
In the fraught weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol, the wife of Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito entered into a lease for a residential property in Southwest Washington, D.C., according to a lease filed with the Grady County clerk.
The lease, which has not been previously reported, is dated Jan. 19, 2021, 13 days after a mob of Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The lease was signed by Martha-Ann Bomgardner, Alito’s wife, and the landlord, identified as John Doe. The lease term is for one year, with a monthly rent of $3,500.
The property is located in a quiet neighborhood near the Supreme Court. It is a single-family home with four bedrooms and three bathrooms.
It is unclear why Alito’s wife leased the property. She and Justice Alito live in a large house in Chevy Chase, Md.
A spokeswoman for the Supreme Court declined to comment.
The lease filing comes amid renewed scrutiny of the spouses of Supreme Court justices. In recent years, there have been calls for the spouses of justices to recuse themselves from cases involving their spouses’ employers or clients.
In 2018, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s husband, Martin Ginsburg, died. Justice Ginsburg subsequently recused herself from several cases involving companies that her husband had represented.
Some legal experts have argued that the spouses of justices should be held to the same ethical standards as the justices themselves. They argue that the spouses of justices could potentially influence the justices’ decisions, even if there is no evidence of actual impropriety.
Others argue that the spouses of justices should not be subject to the same ethical standards as the justices themselves. They argue that the spouses of justices are private citizens who should not be held responsible for the actions of their spouses.
The debate over the ethical standards for the spouses of Supreme Court justices is likely to continue.
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