Dems push forward on Supreme Court ethics bill following Alito report

[mystery-ak]

Dems push forward on Supreme Court ethics bill following Alito report

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would try to block any legislation on the floor: “I think the Chief Justice can address these issues, Congress should stay out of it.”



By Burgess Everett

06/21/2023 01:54 PM EDT

Updated: 06/21/2023 03:12 PM EDT

Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin is done waiting patiently for the Supreme Court to change its ethics standards.

The Illinois Democrat announced Wednesday that his panel will vote on ethics legislation for the high court in July, after he and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) have spent months probing the matter. Durbin said the Supreme Court is in the middle of an “ethical crisis of its own making” and added that Congress will act if Chief Justice John Roberts does not address the issue on his own.

Whitehouse and Durbin said the committee will vote on ethical standards legislation after the July 4 recess, lamenting that the “the highest court in the land should not have the lowest ethical standards.

“Chief Justice Roberts can solve this problem this afternoon. He can establish a code of conduct and the responsibility of his justices. To disclose everything and be done with us. The alternative is he’s got to live with this is a very strong legacy,” Durbin told reporters on Wednesday afternoon.

more
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/21/durbin-announces-vote-on-supreme-court-ethics-bill-00102935

[mystery-ak]

Thom Tillis calls on Supreme Court to adopt code of ethics
David Sivak
5–6 minutes

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) is joining Democratic calls for the Supreme Court to reform its ethical standards in light of revelations that justices have accepted ethically questionable gifts while serving on the high court.

Justices are bound by federal disclosure laws for gifts above a certain monetary value, but the Supreme Court does not have an ethical code like the ones followed by the executive and legislative branches.

A series of reports from ProPublica detailing lavish trips Justice Clarence Thomas accepted from GOP donor Harlan Crow has fueled Democratic calls for reform on the federal bench. Those demands were renewed on Wednesday when the outlet published an article detailing a luxury fishing trip Justice Samuel Alito accepted in 2008.

more
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/senate/thom-tillis-supreme-court-code-ethics

[bigheadfred]

Justice Alito Pushes Back on Misleading ProPublica Report

Alito said he has voted on 100,000 certiorari petitions during his time on the Court and that his staff check the names of the parties in each case and any other entities listed in the corporate disclosure statement. Most of the cases in which Singer had a connection were not taken up by the Court and in the one that was taken up — Republic of Argentina v. NML Capital, Ltd — Singer’s name did not appear on the relevant court records, Alito said. He also noted that it would be impossible for Court clerks to dig through the records of every corporation with business before the court to determine which individuals had connections to those companies.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/justice-alito-pushes-back-on-misleading-propublica-report/ar-AA1cRdDU

[Kamaji]

Congress has no authority to regulate the conduct of the Supreme Court except through the threat of impeachment.

[Free Vulcan]

Congress has no authority to regulate the conduct of the Supreme Court except through the threat of impeachment.

Yep. You want them gone - muster the votes.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Supreme Court Justices are Federal employees.  Congress could require them to disclose gifts and income as part of their employment agreement, with consequences for those who do not comply.

Americans deserve to know who owns their Supreme Court Justices, Congressmen, Senators, President, and Vice-President.

If a GS-203-05 Federal Data Transcription Clerk has to disclose such things, certainly the muckity mucks should be held to the same standard.

[Kamaji]

Supreme Court Justices are Federal employees.  Congress could require them to disclose gifts and income as part of their employment agreement, with consequences for those who do not comply.

Americans deserve to know who owns their Supreme Court Justices, Congressmen, Senators, President, and Vice-President.

If a GS-203-05 Federal Data Transcription Clerk has to disclose such things, certainly the muckity mucks should be held to the same standard.

No.

Except that Supreme Court justices are appointed pursuant to the Constitution, and the Constitution establishes the basis for when, and how, the Congress, as a coequal branch of government, can discipline them.

That is fundamentally different from any other person who works for the federal government.  For example, Congress has the authority to establish lower courts, and therefore has greater authority to establish disciplinary measures for those judges, which it does not have with respect to the Supreme Court.