Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito should stop accepting lavish teaching fees from Pepperdine University, a school that engages in discrimination based upon religious and sexual orientation.

Since joining the court in 2006, Justice Alito has received more than $50,000 in teaching fees for a handful of hours at Pepperdine’s School of Law. He has also received reimbursements for travel, lodging and meals while teaching at Pepperdine’s Malibu campus.

Yet, in 2007, Justice Alito failed to disqualify himself from hearing a case in which Pepperdine’s Dean, Kenneth Starr, argued before the court. Neither Alito nor Starr disclosed their fiduciary relationship.

It is not illegal for federal judges to receive teaching fees from a university, although there are strict limits on how much they can earn. While it’s unclear whether Alito has exceeded this amount, his fees are grossly disproportionate to the teaching fees other Supreme Court justices receive. In 2008, for instance, he earned $20,000 for a few hours teaching at Pepperdine, while Justice Antonin Scalia earned only $3,000 despite having taught at several universities around the country.

The disparity raises questions. Dean Starr claims that his law practice is separate from his role at Pepperdine and that he played no direct role in hiring Alito. But this is a distinction without a difference; Starr is Alito’s employer. Further, for several years, Pepperdine listed Alito on its Web site as a “member of the faculty,” misleading prospective students into thinking he played a role in the management of the school.

What is not in question, however, is that despite receiving substantial public support, Pepperdine discriminates on the basis of religious orientation. Prospective law students and faculty, for example, must declare how they would further the religious mission of the school. And while Pepperdine is open to all persons of “traditional faiths,” it is closed to persons in nontraditional faiths, to nonbelievers and to gay students who are sexually active, including those who are married.

Justice Alito’s work on the Supreme Court is admirable, but a federal judge cannot teach at a law school that discriminates on the basis of religious and sexual orientation. Alito himself promised during Senate confirmation hearings that he would never be a member of a group or organization that discriminates on any protected basis.

Justice Alito should sever his ties with Pepperdine, and the Department of Justice should investigate whether Alito and Starr have violated federal law by failing to disclose their ties before the court.