Supreme Court weighs broad impacts in tax case that drew calls for Justice Alito’s recusal

The Supreme Court on Tuesday probed Congress' power to tax certain business entities in a case that could have implications for any future effort to enact a wealth tax on the super-rich.

The case had previously attracted scrutiny after Justice Samuel Alito rejected claims that he should not participate in it because of his ties with one of the lawyers challenging a one-off tax on foreign corporate investments.

During oral arguments Alito asked sharp questions of the federal government's lawyer as the Biden administration defended the tax, which was imposed as part of the 2017 tax law enacted by the Republican-led Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump.

Fellow conservatives Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas asked similar questions skeptical of the government’s arguments. Other justices appeared less critical, asking how broadly a ruling against the government could sweep, potentially imperiling existing tax provisions.

The questions suggested the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, could uphold the tax on narrow grounds.