Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and other Republican senators on Wednesday blocked a bill that would have required the Supreme Court to adopt a code of conduct and create a mechanism to enforce it, following several high-profile controversies.
The bill, the Supreme Court Ethics, Challenge and Transparency Act, would require Supreme Court justices to adopt a code of conduct, create a mechanism for investigating alleged violations of the code or other laws, and improve disclosure of potential conflicts of interest.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., called for unanimous consent to pass the bill Wednesday afternoon.
After media reports revealed that conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas had received large amounts of gifts and entertainment from conservative donors, he criticized Chief Justice John Roberts on the Senate floor for not doing enough to enforce ethical standards on the Supreme Court.
Durbin also expressed concerns about Alito’s impartiality after two flags linked to former President Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election were displayed at Alito’s home and vacation home.
“Last November, the Supreme Court adopted an ineffective code of conduct for its justices that does not meaningfully enforce its ethics rules and contains no mechanism for addressing violations of the code,” Durbin said.
“The Supreme Court’s Code of Conduct repeatedly states that justices should disqualify themselves if there is reasonable doubt about their impartiality. Despite serious doubts about Justices Alito and Thomas’ impartiality in a number of cases, they have refused to recuse themselves from these cases. This ethical crisis on the highest court in the land is unacceptable,” he said.
But Graham quickly opposed the request.
“Let me be very clear: this is not about improving the courts. This is about weakening the courts,” he said.
He noted that all nine Supreme Court justices signed a statement on ethics, principles and practice in April last year and promulgated a code of conduct in November.
“This is an overreach of power and will undermine the court’s ability to operate efficiently,” he warned.
“What I am saying is that this bill contains provisions that will concern anyone who cares about judicial independence,” he said, noting that the bill would create a vetting committee of lower court judges “who will have control over their boss, the Supreme Court.”
Senators John Kennedy (R-Louisiana), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) also opposed Governor Durbin’s request.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (R-Indiana), chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Courts and Oversight and sponsor of the Supreme Court Ethics Act, spoke in favor of the bill.
“Our bill does not make the Supreme Court subordinate to Congress in any way. This bill requires the judiciary to create its own ethics enforcement mechanism, which will be administered within and by the judiciary,” he said.
Durbin sought consent to pass Supreme Court ethics reform after he and the White House unsuccessfully sought a meeting with Roberts to discuss the need for Alito to recuse himself from Trump-related cases.
Roberts rejected their request in a May 30 letter, telling Democratic senators that such a meeting was inadvisable because of “separation of powers concerns and the importance of maintaining an independent judiciary.”
Durbin and Whitehouse have said Alito should recuse himself from a pending case questioning whether Trump should have immunity for crimes related to his official duties as president.
They argue Alito should recuse himself from the case after The New York Times reported that an upside-down flag, a symbol of the “Stop the Steal” movement, was flying at Alito’s Virginia home and another flag linked to Jan. 6, 2021, an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, was flying at his New Jersey beach house.
They also wanted to argue with Justice Roberts about the need for the Supreme Court to adopt an enforceable ethics code in the wake of reports that Justices Alito and Thomas had received large gifts and entertainment from conservative donors.
ProPublica reported last year that Alito had taken a lavish fishing vacation to Alaska with hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer and accepted a private jet trip that would have cost more than $100,000 if he had paid for it himself.
ProPublica also reported last year that Thomas had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in entertainment, travel and other gifts from conservative donor Harlan Crow.
Citing the ProPublica report, the watchdog group Fix the Court published a list of 193 gifts totaling more than $4 million that Thomas has received since 2004.
Justice Alito also came under new scrutiny this week after a liberal journalist published an audio recording of a conversation at a Supreme Court banquet in which he endorsed the idea that the nation needed to return to a “God-worthy place.”
