Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. spoke with President-elect Donald J. Trump on Tuesday, not long before Mr. Trump’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court to delay his sentencing following his conviction in New York in a case arising from hush money payments.

Justice Alito said the call was a routine job reference for a former law clerk whom Mr. Trump was considering for a government position.

It was not clear, however, why Mr. Trump would make a call to check references, a task generally left to lower-level aides.

Gabe Roth, the executive director of Fix the Court, an advocacy group that seeks more openness at the Supreme Court, said the call was deeply problematic given the ethics controversies swirling around the court in general and Justice Alito in particular.

The call was merely an excuse for Trump to speak with one of the nine people determining the fate of his hush money sentencing in the coming days and who will review many more Trump-related issues over the next four years,” Mr. Roth said.

“Typically,” he added, “Trump and Alito are better at hiding their ethics issues, at least for a few months or sometimes longer. But with the Supreme Court greenlighting near-absolute presidential immunity last year, and with Congress refusing to pass enforceable ethics for the justices, it appears there’s no reason to even try.”

In a statement on Wednesday, Justice Alito said the call was an unexceptional endorsement of a talented clerk.

“William Levi, one of my former law clerks, asked me to take a call from President-elect Trump regarding his qualifications to serve in a government position,” Justice Alito said. “I agreed to discuss this matter with President-elect Trump, and he called me yesterday afternoon.”

Justices often serve as references for their law clerks, but the prospective employers are seldom certain to have business before the court. Even aside from his own criminal case, Mr. Trump is set to lead an administration that will undoubtedly be a party in dozens of cases before the court.

Justice Alito said he had not talked about the hush money case or any other legal proceeding 


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