Democrats Continue ‘Reverse Court-Packing’ Supreme Court, Illegally Target Leonard Leo, Justices Tho

[mystery-ak]

Democrats Continue ‘Reverse Court-Packing’ Supreme Court, Illegally Target Leonard Leo, Justices Thomas and Alito

Ken Klukowski 31 Oct 2023 Washington, DC

WASHINGTON, DC — Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are continuing their efforts at “reverse court-packing,” announcing they will subpoena conservative leader Leonard Leo and others despite Leo’s attorney’s letter showing that Senate Democrats have no constitutional authority to punish private citizens or push legislation that would make Congress superior to the Supreme Court.

Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) continue that crusade at reverse-court packing. Having failed to advance legislation that would expand the number of Supreme Court justices to allow for the current Democrat president and Democrat Senate majority to stack the Supreme Court with several judicial liberals, they are pushing a so-called “ethics” bill, S. 359 — the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (“SCERT”) Act — to disqualify conservative Supreme Court justices from key cases to help ensure liberal court decisions.

As part of this cynical strategy to disrupt the Supreme Court as a branch of government that is co-equal with Congress and make the court inferior to congressional majorities, Durbin, Whitehouse, and other Senate Democrats have targeted, first and foremost, Justice Clarence Thomas with baseless smears as the most outspoken originalist on the court, and secondly, Justice Samuel Alito as the second-most outspoken originalist with similarly unfounded attacks.

One common tie between Thomas and Alito is their longtime friendship with Leo, co-chairman of the Federalist Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing originalism: the judicial philosophy that the words of the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted according to the original public meaning of those words when the American people enshrined them in the Supreme Law of the Land.

Not able to subpoena Thomas or Alito directly, Durbin and Whitehouse have been demanding records from Leo regarding vacation travel and conferences that Leo and others have gone on with one of the justices.

more
https://www.breitbart.com/pre-viral/2023/10/31/democrats-reverse-court-packing-supreme-court-leonard-leo/

[mystery-ak]

 McConnell tells Senate Democrats to back off on Supreme Court
by Alexander Bolton - 10/31/23 3:46 PM ET



Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) warned Senate Democrats on Tuesday about issuing subpoenas to two prominent billionaires and a conservative activist because of their friendly ties to conservative members of the Supreme Court, calling such a move “totally inappropriate.”

McConnell essentially told Democratic colleagues to back off after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) announced this week that his committee will subpoena two businessmen who extended personal hospitality to conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

“What he’s targeting here is private citizens with no legislative purpose. I think it’s completely and totally inappropriate,” McConnell said at a press conference Tuesday. 

Durbin and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Federal Courts, announced Monday that the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote to authorize subpoenas for billionaire real estate magnate Harlan Crow and mortgage company owner Robin Arkley II, who provided hospitality to Thomas and Alito, according to media reports.

ProPublica reported in April that Crow had treated Thomas to luxury vacations for more than 20 years and then reported in June that Arkley received Alito as a guest at his luxury fishing lodge in the Alaska wilderness. 

Durbin announced the committee will also issue a subpoena for Leonard Leo, the Federalist Society leader, who went on vacation with Thomas at Crow’s Camp Topridge resort in the Adirondacks, and who helped organize Alito’s fishing vacation in Alaska. 

more
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4285911-mcconnell-tells-senate-democrats-to-back-off-on-supreme-court/