Justice Coney Barrett’s husband represents Fox Corporation in defamation suit: report

29 May 2024

Editor's note: A previous version of this article indicated that Barrett is representing Fox News. This article has been updated to indicate that Barrett is representing a local Fox station that is not a part of Fox News.

While US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito faces ongoing backlash for hanging flags related January 6 and Christian nationalism outside of his homes — which he attributes to the actions of his wife; another Supreme Court justice’s spouse appears to also be connected to right-wing entities.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s husband, according to court documents obtained by Rolling Stone, is representing Fox Corporation in an ongoing defamation lawsuit.

Noting that Coney Barrett's husband, Jesse Barrett, “is a partner at SouthBank Legal,” Above the Law reported Wednesday, “That, in and of itself, isn’t a problem. The issue is she won’t disclose who her husband’s clients are.”

Rolling Stone reports:

Jesse Barrett’s work for Fox Corporation highlights one of ethics experts’ biggest complaints about the Supreme Court: Justices are not required to disclose their spouses’ clients, so the public has no way to track who is paying money directly to their families. In her 2021 financial disclosure, Justice Barrett even redacted the name of her husband’s firm, despite it being common knowledge that he works there.

There’s no way for the public to identify the high-profile attorney’s clients, Rolling Stone reports, “for the most part. However, federal court records show that Barrett is serving as Fox Corporation’s lead counsel in an ongoing defamation case. He had the case moved from Cook County, Illinois, to federal court late last month.”

Per the report, “The defamation case was filed by Lavell Redmond, an Illinois man who was convicted of aggravated sexual assault as a minor and served 24 years in prison. Redmond was hired as a code enforcement officer by the mayor of Dolton in 2021, the original complaint says.”

“FOX 32’s reporting directly led to Redmond being arrested and wrongfully charged with violating the reporting requirements of the sex offender registry,’ as well as his subsequent termination," according to the complaint, and “Redmond has suffered more than $1 million in damages based on Fox’s reporting.”

Redmond is seeking $3 million from the corporation.

Above the Law’s Kathryn Rubino writes:

Jesse Barrett is a lawyer, this is what lawyers do… it’s a non-issue.

…Unless, of course, the case somehow winds up before the Supreme Court and Coney Barrett doesn’t recuse herself. Which, again, we have no way of knowing as long as Coney Barrett refuses to disclose the list of her husband’s clients.

Rolling Stone’s full exclusive report is available at this link (subscription required). Above the Law's report is here.

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