Barely more than one hour after Senate Democrats announced Monday afternoon they will take up a Supreme Court ethics reform bill after months of scandals and allegations of corruption inside the nation’s highest court, a top Republican declared it would be dead on arrival.
Senate Democratic Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, who is also the Chair of the Judiciary Committee, announced his committee will mark up Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) bill next week.
“Whether you agree or disagree with the most recent historic decisions by the Supreme Court, we hope we can all agree on one thing—these nine justices have extraordinary powers under our Constitution,” Chairman Durbin said via Twitter. “The belief that they should not be held accountable or even disclose lavish gifts from wealthy benefactors is an affront to the nation they were chosen to serve. To hold these nine Justices to the same standard as every other federal judge is not a radical or partisan notion.”
“Since the Court won’t act, Congress will,” declared Durbin, who has been under fire – even by rank-and-file Democrats – for not holding the justices accountable.
Focusing his remarks on the justices themselves, he added, “your refusal to meet the most basic ethical standards casts a shadow you cannot escape.”
Senator Whitehouse, who has been focused on Supreme Court ethics reform for over a decade, proudly exclaimed, “At long last, my Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act is headed to a vote” in the Committee. If the Court won’t act to restore public trust, we will.
But Senate Minority Republican Whip John Thune of South Dakota immediately poured cold water on concept of Supreme Court ethics reform.
CNN’s Manu Raju reports Sen. Thune told him, “No way,” when he was asked if Democrats can get the 60 votes necessary to pass the bill. Democrats hold an extremely slim working majority. With the three Democratically-leaning independent Senators, there is essentially a 51-49 split. The bill would need 60 votes to pass, and Sen. Thune’s remarks suggest there are not even nine GOP senators willing to cross party lines to help preserve the nation’s highest court.
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“In the wake of Ginni Thomas’ texts to Mark Meadows about overturning the elections,” CNN’s Raju reported back in March of last year, “Democrats are pushing for new legislation to impose a code of ethics on Supreme Court justices. Senate Minority Whip John Thune just told me such a bill ‘could be problematic.'”
“I think I’m uncomfortable with the idea of becoming overly prescriptive — particularly on the Supreme Court justices — they generally have pretty good instincts on when to recuse and when not to,” Thune said. “People have spouses. Spouses have their own lives. And I’ve always felt confident that Justice Thomas would act in an impartial way. … I think (the bill) creates a lot of constraints on the Supreme Court that could be problematic long term.”
Over the past year support for the Roberts Supreme Court has been at or near historic lows.