A Democratic-led Senate panel is looking to establish ethical standards for Supreme Court justices in light of recent revelations about their luxury trips and real estate transactions. The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Dick Durbin, announced a hearing on the issue, stating that the highest court in the land should not have the lowest ethical standards. Durbin argued that the lack of clear ethical guidelines is contributing to a crisis of public confidence in the Supreme Court, adding that ethics cannot be left to the discretion of the nation’s highest court.
However, none of the nine Supreme Court justices appeared at the hearing, with Chief Justice John Roberts declining an invitation to testify. Instead, the committee heard from lawyers and academics who are well-versed in the subject. Durbin insisted that the Supreme Court needs to step up and fix the issue themselves, but since they have refused to do so for years, Congress must take action.
In his opening statement, the panel’s top Republican, Senator Lindsey Graham, criticized a “concentrated effort by the left to delegitimize this court and to cherry-pick examples to make a point.” He added that while he has expressed a desire for the court to be more transparent and have rules that the public can relate to, he has never suggested that Congress should take over the court’s ability to regulate itself. He believes it is unwise to do so.
Another Republican committee member, Senator John Kennedy, said the hearing was merely “an excuse to sling more mud at an institution that some – not all – some Democrats don’t like because they can’t control it 100% of the time.”
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Recent news reports have detailed ties between conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, the court’s longest-tenured member, and wealthy Republican donor Harlan Crow. The reports revealed real estate purchases and luxury travel paid for by the Dallas businessman. Politico also reported that conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch failed to disclose the buyer of a Colorado property in which he had a stake – the CEO of a major law firm whose attorneys have been involved in numerous Supreme Court cases.
Supreme Court justices are not bound by the code of conduct adopted by the policymaking body for the broader federal judiciary, which requires other federal judges to avoid even the “appearance of impropriety.” Chief Justice Roberts has said that Supreme Court justices consult that code in assessing their own ethical obligations. However, the witnesses who testified at the hearing, including former federal judge Jeremy Fogel and judicial ethics expert Amanda Frost of the University of Virginia School of Law, argued that the justices need a code of conduct.
Former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey and lawyer Thomas Dupree, who also testified, argued that imposing such a code through legislation would infringe on the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers among the government’s executive, legislative, and judicial branches. However, two U.S. senators, independent Angus King who caucuses with Democrats and Republican Lisa Murkowski, introduced legislation on April 26 requiring the Supreme Court to create a code of conduct and appoint an official to review ethics complaints.
Any such legislation is expected to face opposition from Republicans, as the Supreme Court currently has a 6-3 conservative majority. Some liberals have criticized the court’s recent rulings, including expanding gun rights and ending its recognition of a constitutional right to abortion. Despite this, the issue of establishing ethical standards for Supreme Court justices is not a partisan issue, as both Democrats and Republicans agree that the highest court in the land should be held to high ethical standards to maintain public confidence.