U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has acknowledged taking a private jet to Alaska for a luxury fishing trip in 2008 but defended his failure to disclose the flight provided by a billionaire hedge fund manager whose business interests have come before the court.

Alito wrote a commentary published in The Wall Street Journal late Tuesday defending his conduct hours before news outlet Propublica published an article raising questions about the justice’s failure to report the trip with Paul Singer on mandatory financial disclosure forms or recuse from cases involving Singer’s business. “Neither charge is valid,” Alito said in his commentary, t it led , “Propublica Misleads Its Readers.”

The court has been embroiled in mounting ethics controversies — in particular revelations about ties between Justice Clarence Thomas and a Texas billionaire. Opinion polls have revealed a sharp drop in public confidence in the top U.S. judicial body, which has a 6-3 conservative majority.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin said on Wednesday in response to the latest revelation that the Democratic-led panel will take up Supreme Court ethics legislation when senators return after their Fourth of July recess.

“The Supreme Court is in an ethical crisis of its own making,” Durbin said in a joint statement with fellow Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, who has long pressed for Supreme Court ethics reform.

“The reputation and credibility of the court are at stake,” they added.

Propublica’s article noted that had Alito chartered the private jet, the cost would have exceeded $100,000 one way.