最高法院法官塞缪尔·阿利托与当选总统交谈唐纳德·特朗普ABC新闻获悉，他周二打电话推荐他的一名前法律助理在新政府中任职。
“我以前的一名法律助理威廉·李维(William Levi)让我接当选总统特朗普的电话，询问他担任政府职位的资格，”阿利托法官周三向美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)证实。“我同意与当选总统特朗普讨论此事，他昨天下午给我打了电话。”
这通电话发生在特朗普的律师周三早上提起诉讼的几个小时前紧急请求大法官要求他们阻止一名纽约州法官在周五对川普的封口费刑事案件进行判决。
阿利托说，他和特朗普没有讨论那件事。
“我们没有讨论他今天提交的紧急申请，事实上，在我们谈话时，我甚至不知道会提交这样的申请，”阿利托说。“我们也没有讨论任何其他悬而未决或未来可能提交给最高法院的问题，或任何涉及当选总统的最高法院过去的决定。”
现任大法官为前任书记员提供工作建议并不罕见，但法院分析人士表示，大法官与现任总统或候任总统直接进行这样的对话是罕见的，尤其是在法院待审的业务中有积极利益的人。
上个月晚些时候，川普卷入了一起关于视频分享应用抖音未来的重大案件，要求法官推迟即将实施的禁令因为他“独自拥有完善的交易专长、选举授权和谈判解决方案的政治意愿，以拯救政纲，同时解决政府表达的国家安全问题。”
周三，特朗普要求法官立即停止在纽约对他的所有刑事诉讼，包括周五的判决，并警告说，在总统过渡期间不这样做将“损害”总统职位，并破坏“国家安全和美国的重大利益”。
最高法院要求纽约检察官在美国东部时间周四上午10点前做出回应。预计它将在周五早上之前对特朗普的请求进行权衡。
消息人士称，利维正被考虑在即将上任的政府中担任各种法律职务，包括国防部总法律顾问。利维在2011年至2012年期间担任阿利托大法官的秘书，曾在第一届特朗普政府中担任时任司法部长比尔·巴尔的幕僚长。
前最高法院法官约翰·保罗·史蒂文斯的秘书凯特·肖(Kate Shaw)说:“最高法院的大法官是他们法律助理的雇主。”。“因此，为前雇员提供推荐信并不罕见，不管前职员申请的是什么工作——学术工作、私营部门工作，甚至是政府工作。”
但是肖说，法官和当选总统之间的这种通话是非常不寻常的，特别是当当选总统正在进行多项法律诉讼，有可能向最高法院提起诉讼。
特朗普过渡团队的发言人没有立即回应美国广播公司新闻的置评请求。
阿利托此前曾面临要求他回避与1月6日国会大厦袭击和2020年大选有关的案件的呼吁。去年，他拒绝了民主党人要求他回避这些案件的呼吁，因为在他的个人住所悬挂的旗帜引发了争议。首席大法官约翰·罗伯茨随后拒绝邀请由参议院司法委员会的民主党人召开会议，讨论法院在涉及阿利托的旗帜争议中的道德行为。
参议员迪克·德宾(民主党)和参议员谢尔登·怀特豪斯(民主党)在5月23日的一封信中要求阿利托回避这些展览，信中写道，阿利托“积极参与政治活动，未能避免不当行为的出现，并且未能以促进公众对司法公正的信心的方式行事。”
“他还对他的公正性和他在2020年总统选举和1月6日国会大厦袭击相关案件中公平履行职责的能力产生了合理的怀疑，”两人写道。
特朗普将于周五被判刑，此前他曾被被判有罪今年5月，他面临34项伪造商业记录的重罪指控，这些记录与封口费向成人电影女演员斯托米·丹尼尔斯支付的款项有关，以提高他在2016年总统大选中的选举前景。
当选总统要求最高法院考虑他是否有权在上诉期间暂停诉讼;总统豁免权是否阻止使用与官方行为相关的证据;当选总统是否享有和现任总统一样的豁免权。
特朗普面临最高四年的监禁，但纽约法官胡安·马科姆已经表示，他计划判处特朗普有期徒刑无条件放电-实际上是特朗普记录上的一个污点，没有监狱，罚款或缓刑-以尊重特朗普的过渡努力和总统豁免权的原则。
辩护律师认为，量刑仍然“引发了对其他可能限制自由的担忧。”
Trump speaks with Justice Alito amid push to halt criminal sentencing
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito spoke to President-electDonald Trumpby phone Tuesday to recommend one of his former law clerks for a job in the new administration, ABC News has learned.
"William Levi, one of my former law clerks, asked me to take a call from President-elect Trump regarding his qualifications to serve in a government position," Justice Alito confirmed to ABC News Wednesday. "I agreed to discuss this matter with President-elect Trump, and he called me yesterday afternoon."
The call occurred just hours before Trump's lawyers on Wednesday morning filed anemergency requestwith the justices asking them to block a New York judge from moving forward with sentencing Trump on Friday in his criminal hush money case.
Alito said that he and Trump did not discuss that matter.
"We did not discuss the emergency application he filed today, and indeed, I was not even aware at the time of our conversation that such an application would be filed," Alito said. "We also did not discuss any other matter that is pending or might in the future come before the Supreme Court or any past Supreme Court decisions involving the President-elect."
It is not unusual for a sitting justice to offer a job recommendation for a former clerk, but it is rare, court analysts said, for a justice to have such a conversation directly with a sitting president or president-elect, especially one with an active stake in business pending before the court.
Late last month, Trump waded into a momentous case over the future of the video-sharing app TikTok, asking the justices todelay an impending banon the extraordinary grounds that he "alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns expressed by the Government."
On Wednesday, Trump asked the justices to immediately halt all criminal proceedings against him in New York, including Friday's sentencing, warning that failing to do so during a presidential transition would "damage" the presidency and disrupt "national security and America's vital interests."
The Supreme Court has asked for a response from prosecutors in New York by Thursday at 10 a.m. ET. It's expected to weigh in on Trump's request by Friday morning.
Levi is being considered for various legal jobs in the incoming administration, including general counsel of the Department of Defense, sources said. Levi, who clerked for Justice Alito from 2011-2012, served in the first Trump administration as chief of staff to then-Attorney General Bill Barr.
"The justices of the Supreme Court are, among other things, employers to their law clerks," said ABC News contributor Kate Shaw, who clerked for former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. "So providing a reference for a former employee is not atypical, whatever job a former clerk may be applying for -- an academic job, private sector job, or even a government job."
But Shaw said such a call between a justice and a president-elect is highly unusual, especially when the president-elect is engaged in multiple legal actions with the potential to go before the Supreme Court.
A spokesperson for Trump's transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
Alito has previously faced calls to recuse himself from cases related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and the 2020 election. Last year he rejected Democrats' calls for his recusal from those cases after flags flown at his personal residences sparked controversy. Chief Justice John Roberts subsequentlydeclined an invitationby Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee for a meeting to discuss the court's ethical practices in light of the flags controversy involving Alito.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), in a May 23 letter requesting Alito's recusal over the displays, wrote that Alito "actively engaged in political activity, failed to avoid the appearance of impropriety, and failed to act in a manner that promotes public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary."
"He also created reasonable doubt about his impartiality and his ability to fairly discharge his duties in cases related to the 2020 presidential election and January 6th attack on the Capitol," the two wrote.
Trump is due to be sentenced Friday after he wasfound guiltyin May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
The president-elect has asked the Supreme Court to consider whether he is entitled to a stay of the proceedings during his appeal; whether presidential immunity prevents the use of evidence related to official acts; and whether a president-elect is entitled to the same immunity as a sitting president.
Trump faces up to four years in prison, but New York Judge Juan Merchan has signaled that he plans to sentence Trump to anunconditional discharge-- effectively a blemish on Trump's record, without prison, fines or probation -- in order to respect Trump's transition efforts and the principle of presidential immunity.
Defense lawyers argued that sentencing still "raises the specter of other possible restrictions on liberty."
