GOP Senators Slam Democrats’ ‘Unseemly’ Efforts To Impose Supreme Court Ethics Code

Topline

Republican senators came out against Democrats’ push to impose a code of ethics on the Supreme Court during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, painting Democratic lawmakers’ efforts as a partisan attack on conservative justices and likely ensuring the failure of any legislation that would force an ethical code on justices.

Ranking member Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) speaks during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on … [+] Supreme Court Ethics Reform on May 2 in Washington, D.C.

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Key Facts

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Supreme Court ethics reform amid a series of recent ethics controversies at the court—particularly Justice Clarence Thomas accepting trips and selling real estate to GOP megadonor Harlan Crow without disclosing it—which was held with legal experts after Chief Justice John Roberts declined the committee’s invitation to testify.

Ranking Member Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said while he wasn’t opposed to greater transparency on the Supreme Court and a discussion of ethics reforms, he “think[s] this moment when we could find common ground has been hijacked,” saying Democrats’ push for an ethics code is “an unseemly effort by the Democratic left to destroy the legitimacy of the Roberts court.”

Graham accused Democrats of “cherry pick[ing]

examples to make a point” by complaining about conservative-leaning justices but not liberal ones, and said attacks on Thomas have gone “well beyond ethics” and are “about trying to delegitimize a conservative court.”

Sen. John Kennedy (R-Miss.), the ranking member on the courts subcommittee, downplayed Thomas’ failure to disclose his transactions with Crow, saying “history is littered with public officials who failed to disclose every transaction,” and noted liberal justices have amended their disclosures in the past without “buckets of mud” being thrown at them.

“The danger isn’t that rogue justices are operating without ethics, it is that Democrats aren’t winning every fight and they find that intolerable,” Kennedy said, arguing Democrats who are unhappy with the conservative-leaning court’s rulings should “fill out a hurt feelings report and move on.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), said that he supported more oversight over the court, but Democrats “have engaged in a crusade to … smear the courts,” decrying the hearing as “political theater,” and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) accused Democrats of a “thuggish shakedown” of the Supreme Court and praised Thomas as “one of our greatest American success stories.”

Crucial Quote

“I’m just saying there’s a very selective outrage here,” Graham said about Democrats’ complaints about conservative justices. “And from our point of view on this side of the aisle, we’re going to push back as hard as we can. … This is not about making the court better, it is about destroying the conservative court. It will not work.”

Chief Critic

Senate Judiciary chair Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) hit back at Republicans’ suggestion that the campaign for a code of ethics was a response to the court’s recent decisions, noting he has pushed for the court to adopt such a code for over a decade, sending a letter on the issue in 2012. “The highest court in the land should not have the lowest ethical standards … the status quo must change,” Durbin said Tuesday.

What To Watch For

Three bills are pending in Congress that would impose a code of ethics on justices, as Supreme Court justices are not subject to the same binding code as lower federal judges. While two bills, introduced by Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), have always been considered a long shot to pass, Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Angus King (I-Maine) had also introduced legislation that they hoped would face better odds, given its bipartisan nature. Tuesday’s hearing suggested even that bill is unlikely to make it through, and attorney Thomas H. Dupree, Jr., a legal expert who Republicans called to testify at the hearing, said its provision that would investigate complaints filed against justices and publish them in an annual report would “damage and debase the institution.” During his questioning in the hearing, Graham commented, “I’m not gonna vote for any of these bills.”

Key Background

The push for the Supreme Court to adopt a binding code of ethics, while an issue for years, has ramped up more recently in response to a string of recent ethical issues, particularly Thomas’ wife Ginni Thomas and her right-wing political activism and Thomas’ dealings with Crow. Polling shows public trust in the Supreme Court has plummeted, as the ethics controversies have gained attention and as Americans view the 6-3 conservative court as being too political. In addition to Democrats, legal scholars and the American Bar Association have also pushed for the court to adopt a code of ethics, with the ABA adopting a resolution in February that urges the court to impose ethical rules. Justice Elena Kagan testified to Congress in 2019 the issue was “something that’s being thought very seriously about” at the court, and the Washington Post reported in February the court has been actively discussing imposing a code of ethics for at least four years, but still hasn’t been able to impose one or decided if they will. Thomas has denied acting improperly, and in Roberts’ statement declining the Senate Judiciary Committee’s call to testify, he attached a “Statement of Ethics and Principles” signed by the nine justices, which said they voluntarily subscribe to ethical principles, like disclosing conflicts of interest.