Alex Aronson is the founder and executive of Court Accountability and is the former chief counsel for U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). ¹

Aronson is an outspoken critic of right-of-center jurists, most notably Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas. Aronson claims there is a lack of enforcement of ethics rules regarding gifts received by Supreme Court justices. ² Aronson also accuses right-of-center jurists of violating ethics rules for their associations with organizations such as the Federalist Society. ³

Career

Alex Aronson founded Court Accountability in July 2023 and is the organization’s executive director. ⁴ He participates in speaking engagements where he accuses Supreme Court Justices and other judges associated with right-of-center judicial approaches of ethics violations due to their associations with the Federalist Society and other right-of-center organizations and for having received gifts. Aronson also advocates for the creation of a government agency outside of the judicial branch to investigate and enforce alleged judicial-ethics violations. ¹

From January 2022 to February 2023, Aronson worked as a managing director for the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at the Georgetown Law Center. ⁴

From April 2017 until January 2022, Aronson worked in various capacities as a counsel to U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) on the Senate Judiciary Committee, rising to the rank of chief counsel. ⁴ While working as chief counsel to Sen. Whitehouse, Aronson was also the staff director for the Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Federal Rights, and Agency Action. In this position, he advised on judicial ethics policies. He was also lead counsel for Sen. Whitehouse during two Supreme Court confirmations and was an advisor during the two impeachment trials of former President Donald Trump. ⁵ Aronson claims to have contributed to changes to ethics policy under the judicial branch that resulted in stricter reporting requirements for gifts to Supreme Court Justices and lower court judges. ²

Prior to working for Senator Whitehouse, Aronson worked as an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice and as an associate attorney for Covington and Burling. ⁴

Advocacy

In September 2023, as a representative for Court Accountability, Alex Aronson participated in a panel on which he accused Alabama’s legislature and attorney general office of conflicts of interest that resulted in alleged discrimination against Black voters by refusing to implement race-based redistricting policies. Aronson claimed that the legislature was unduly influenced by right-of-center groups led by Leonard Leo, including the Federalist Society, in its decisions on redistricting. ^{6 1}

In March 2024, Court Accountability Executive Director Alex Aronson made comments critical of federal appeals court Judge James Ho for not recusing himself from a case after his wife received payments from Alliance Defending Freedom, which was not deemed to be a violation of the court’s code of conduct. Aronson also criticized Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for not recusing himself from a case related to the riot at the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, as his wife, Ginni Thomas, was present at demonstrations on that day. Aronson claimed Thomas and Ho’s refusals to recuse were examples of court cases being corrupted by “an apparent pattern of coordinated activity by some of these couples in this extremist movement.” ⁷

1. Holmes, Jacob. “Supreme Court Experts Highlight Alabama’s Dark Money Influence Campaign.” Alabama Political Reporter, September 22, 2023. https://www.alreporter.com/2023/09/22/supreme-court-experts-highlight-alabamas-dark-money-influence-campaign/.
2. Aronson, Alex. “Clarence Thomas Had the Ideal Tutor for Skirting Ethics Laws.” Slate Magazine, April 6, 2023. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/04/clarence-thomas-ethics-laws-violations-antonin-scalia.html.
3. ^[1] Holmes, Jacob. “Supreme Court Experts Highlight Alabama’s Dark Money Influence Campaign.” Alabama Political Reporter, September 22, 2023. https://www.alreporter.com/2023/09/22/supreme-court-experts-highlight-alabamas-dark-money-influence-campaign/.
4. Alex Aronson.” LinkedIn. Accessed April 21, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-aronson-7a86293/.
5. “2022 domestic terrorism study.” Washington State Attorney General’s Office. Accessed April 22, 2024. https://agportal-s3bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/2022 Domestic Terrorism Study.pdf.
6. Britt, Bill. “Dark Money: The Backstory of Alabama’s Redistricting Defiance.” Alabama Political Reporter, September 18, 2023. https://www.alreporter.com/2023/09/16/dark-money-the-backstory-of-alabamas-redistricting-defiance/.
7. “The next Clarence Thomas? Abortion Pill Case Spotlights Rightwing Judge and His Wife’s Shadowy Connections.” The Guardian, March 25, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/25/judge-james-ho-wife-mifepristone-abortion-pill.