Far-Left justice correspondent for The Nation and frequent MSNBC pundit Elie Mystal suggested a "rich white person" take Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to "see the Titanic" amid reports of a missing tourist submersible.
Mystal was criticized for "wishing death" on Alito and later claimed it was just a "joke."
Responding to a tweet from New York Times columnist David French calling his comments "vile," Mystal said it was a "joke" and included a link to the Supreme Court's Dobbs opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade last year, arguing, "This is vile."
Several on Twitter accused Mystal of "wishing death" on Alito, though many found the controversial comment unsurprising.
JUSTICE THOMAS DEFENDS TRIPS TAKEN WITH ‘DEAREST FRIENDS’ AFTER REPORTS SAY HE ACCEPTED GIFTS
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the remark was "outrageous."
"For months we've seen leftists hellbent on destroying the integrity of our Supreme Court with incessant attacks, but outwardly wishing death on one of our finest Justices is truly beyond the pale," he continued.
Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan sarcastically responded to Mystal's tweet, "all class, as usual."
Daily Caller media reporter Nicole Silverio reacted to Mystal's comment, asking, "Does @MSNBC condone its contributors and staffers using this kind of rhetoric?"
"Just causally wishing death on a Supreme Court Justice," columnist David Marcus said.
CLARENCE THOMAS IS ONE OF THE MOST ‘CORRUPT JUSTICES IN AMERICAN HISTORY,’ MSNBC GUEST DECLARES
Alito called out ProPublica in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
According to an editor's note attached to the op-ed, Alito received a series of questions from ProPublica journalists on Friday, giving him a deadline that lapsed earlier in the day.
"ProPublica has leveled two charges against me: first, that I should have recused in matters in which an entity connected with Paul Singer was a party and, second, that I was obligated to list certain items as gifts on my 2008 Financial Disclose Report. Neither charge is valid," Alito wrote.
Mystal once described the Constitution as "actually trash."
"And yet you rarely see liberals make the point that the Constitution is actually trash. Conservatives are out here acting like the Constitution was etched by divine flame upon stone tablets, when in reality it was scrawled out over a sweaty summer by people making deals with actual monsters who were trying to protect their rights to rape the humans they held in bondage," he said.
Fox News' Joeseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
