The US Supreme Court is also weighing major cases tied to Donald Trump revolving around the 2020 election and the January six attack on the US Capitol.

In a rare move today, Justice Samuel Alito issued a letter rejecting calls to step aside from cases involving the former president.

Despite a controversy that's dogged him for days about political flags flown over his homes, that was one topic brought up during an event today hosted by Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill and Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin about defending democracy.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis reports.

But the Supreme Court, it's a law unto itself.

So it violates that first Madisonian principle, which is that no one should be a judge in his or her own case.

Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin referencing the former president and namesake of the town he visited today, joining Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill in Madison for a conversation about ethics in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Why couldn't the other seven justices issue a writ of mandamus to Justices Alito and Thomas to do the right thing and recuse themselves from the places.

Raskin and Sherill have joined?

A growing chorus of voices calling for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and New Jersey Native Justice Samuel Alito to recuse themselves from former President Donald Trump's Supreme Court cases.

After reports that Justice Thomas accepted gifts and vacations from a GOP donor without disclosing them.

And Justice Alito's New Jersey resident and vacation home, How to stop the steal flag.

And a Christian nationalist flag flown outside.

Obviously, the Supreme Court has not done well at policing itself.

When we see someone like Justice Thomas, for example, receiving money from a large Republican donor.

New details emerge this weekend, disproving Justice Alito's response to the flags flown outside his home, which he had said was in response to an argument with a neighbor.

Representative Raskin says that reasoning wouldn't matter even if it were true.

They were in response to a fight.

They would obviously make no difference.

A judge is bound by the canons of ethics and judicial impartiality and objectivity, regardless of what people around him are saying, Chief Justice Roberts said when he was doing his confirmation hearing that a judge should be like an umpire.

Well, what if what happens if the umpire is flying the flag of a baseball team that's in the World Series?

Everybody would understand that umpire is no longer impartial and can't be trusted to call balls and strikes in an objective and fair way.

And that's really where we are today.

At the event today was the family of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who was killed on January six, 2021.

They, too, are calling for recusal.

You can't tell me that they're not compromised people and they should not be serving on the Supreme Court, never mind on cases related to Trump.

But Justice Alito issued a statement to lawmakers in a letter today saying he will not recuse himself from cases involving the 2020 presidential election or January six, 2021, because the incidents with the flags do not meet the conditions for recusal.

Alito putting all the blame on his wife, saying, My wife is fond of flying flags.

My wife was solely responsible for having flagpoles put up at our residents and vacation home and has flown a wide variety of flags over the years.

Congresswoman Sherill has co-sponsored the Supreme Court Ethics Act, which would create a code of conduct for all US justices, including the US Supreme Court, which currently has none.

I think we need an investigative body to investigate some of the charges and weigh in on them.

It's not enough that in their own minds they feel as if they're being impartial.

They need to exhibit that in every aspect of their life.

Sherill's bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives but doesn't have much chance of moving forward without the support of the GOP.

We reached out to each of New Jersey GOP representatives in the House.

None responded in time for this story.

In Madison, I'm Joanna Gagis NJ Spotlight News.