Posted on Apr 23, 2023
Congress has clashed with Supreme Court justices over ethics in the past
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https://www.npr.org/2023/04/22/ [login to see] /congress-has-clashed-with-supreme-court-justices-over-ethics-in-the-past
When Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin this week asked the chief justice of the Supreme Court to give the committee an update on the ethics of the court, he spoke of "a steady stream of revelations regarding Justices falling short" of ethical standards.
Durbin did not mention the shortcomings of any justice in particular.
He did not have to.
Everyone old enough to read a newspaper or understand a newscast knows Durbin's letter was prompted by media reports on Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, the longest-serving member of the current court, who took the oath in 1991.
The high heat on the high court comes in the wake of an investigation by ProPublica spotlighting Thomas' long and beneficial friendship with Harlan Crow, a billionaire Republican megadonor and activist. Among the benefits cited: vacations around the world valued at approximately $500,000.
When Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin this week asked the chief justice of the Supreme Court to give the committee an update on the ethics of the court, he spoke of "a steady stream of revelations regarding Justices falling short" of ethical standards.
Durbin did not mention the shortcomings of any justice in particular.
He did not have to.
Everyone old enough to read a newspaper or understand a newscast knows Durbin's letter was prompted by media reports on Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, the longest-serving member of the current court, who took the oath in 1991.
The high heat on the high court comes in the wake of an investigation by ProPublica spotlighting Thomas' long and beneficial friendship with Harlan Crow, a billionaire Republican megadonor and activist. Among the benefits cited: vacations around the world valued at approximately $500,000.
Congress has clashed with Supreme Court justices over ethics in the past
Posted from npr.org
Congress
Ethics
Supreme Court
American History
Posted 1 y ago
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Congress has more issues than the Supremes...maybe the judges should ask in return?
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel good day Brother William, always informational and of the most interesting. Thanks for sharing, have a blessed day!
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL A Few More Checks and Balances May be Necessary!
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Thomas reports renew focus on Supreme Court ethics
Durbin's request for John Roberts to testify is not the first time the chief justice has had to tackle the question of how ethics standards apply to his court. For years, he has defended the high court's exemption of itself from the ethics rules governing the rest of the federal judiciary (and others in the federal power structure).
He addressed the issue in his 2011 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary, calling the code for lower courts a good "starting point" but saying he saw "no reason" for the Supreme Court to be held to that code. He said his fellow justices looked to multiple sources of guidance and that there were certain "ethical considerations unique to the Supreme Court."
However Roberts' statement might have been received in 2011, it is clearly less satisfactory now. As Durbin wrote in his invitation to Roberts this week, "problems were already apparent back in 2011, and the Court's decade-long failure to address them has contributed to a crisis of public confidence."...
..."Thomas reports renew focus on Supreme Court ethics
Durbin's request for John Roberts to testify is not the first time the chief justice has had to tackle the question of how ethics standards apply to his court. For years, he has defended the high court's exemption of itself from the ethics rules governing the rest of the federal judiciary (and others in the federal power structure).
He addressed the issue in his 2011 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary, calling the code for lower courts a good "starting point" but saying he saw "no reason" for the Supreme Court to be held to that code. He said his fellow justices looked to multiple sources of guidance and that there were certain "ethical considerations unique to the Supreme Court."
However Roberts' statement might have been received in 2011, it is clearly less satisfactory now. As Durbin wrote in his invitation to Roberts this week, "problems were already apparent back in 2011, and the Court's decade-long failure to address them has contributed to a crisis of public confidence."...
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