Senator Seeking to Investigate Justice Alito for Stating Congress Cannot Regulate Supreme Court

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse has asked Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to investigate Justice Samuel Alito for alleged ethics violations.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito speaks at Georgetown University in Washington on Feb. 23, 2016. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) has asked Chief Justice John Roberts to launch an investigation into Justice Samuel Alito for “violating several canons of judicial ethics” after the latter’s comments about Supreme Court ethics.

Justice Alito told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published on July 28, “Congress did not create the Supreme Court,” rather it was the Constitution that did. “I know this is a controversial view, but I’m willing to say it,” he said. “No provision in the Constitution gives them the authority to regulate the Supreme Court—period.”