Another day, another Supreme Court ethics scandal involving a Republican-appointed justice. In this case, it’s Justice Samuel Alito failing to disclose luxury travel provided by a hedge-fund billionaire with cases before the court – which Alito did not recuse himself from.
Seven ethics law experts told ProPublica Alito’s failure to disclose violates a federal law. But, as Susie Madrak reported, Alito is not only unremorseful about his behavior, he ran to The Wall Street Journal (owned by another right-wing billionaire who may well be a benefactor) to petulantly whine “along the lines of, ‘How DARE you?’" as Susie aptly put it. This comes after multiple reports of not-passing-the-ethical-smell-test behavior of Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.
Durbin and Whitehouse have decided enough is enough. They jointly announced that the Senate Judiciary Committee will mark up Supreme Court ethics legislation after the July 4th recess. They also made this withering condemnation of Chief Justice Roberts' inaction:
The Supreme Court is in an ethical crisis of its own making due to the acceptance of lavish gifts from parties with business before the Court that several Justices have not disclosed. The reputation and credibility of the Court are at stake. Chief Justice Roberts could resolve this today, but he has not acted.
The highest court in the land should not have the lowest ethical standards. But for too long that has been the case with the United States Supreme Court. That needs to change.
The statement added that the senators hope Chief Justice Roberts will eliminate the need for such legislation by enacting the same rules for Supreme Court judges as other federal judges. “But if the Court won’t act, then Congress must,” the statement concludes.
And yet, what should be a no-brainer is a bridge too far for Sen. Mitch McConnell. Politico reports the minority leader will try to block any such legislation on the floor. “I think the Chief Justice can address these issues, Congress should stay out of it,” McConnell is quoted as saying.
Obviously, the chief justice is not addressing these issues. So what is McConnell afraid of? That his fatcat GOP donors will no longer be able to bribe, I mean indulge the justices whose rulings can result in even fatter wallets?
