(Reuters) -U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts on Thursday rejected a request by two Democratic senators for a meeting to urge him to take steps to ensure fellow Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito recuses himself from pending cases related to the 2020 election.

U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin and fellow Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, sent a letter to Roberts on May 23 following media reports of politically charged flags flown outside of Alito’s homes, including an inverted American flag.

The senators said that by permitting the display of symbols associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement and carried by some supporters of former Republican President Donald Trump, during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Alito had created “reasonable doubt as to his impartiality” requiring recusal. The pending cases include one on Trump’s bid for immunity from prosecution and the other on a charge involving the Capitol attack.

Roberts, in a letter to the senators, said that sitting chief justices meet with lawmakers only on “rare occasions.”

“Separation of powers concerns and the importance of preserving judicial independence counsel against such appearances,” he wrote.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Scott Malone)