“Since the Court won’t act, Congress will,” Senators Dick Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse said in a statement.
Democrats in the Senate Judiciary Committee are taking steps to address corruption on the Supreme Court at a time when the Court is eroding the public’s rights at an unprecedented rate.
On Monday, Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights Chair Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) announced in a joint statement that the committee will be voting on advancing a bill regarding Supreme Court ethics next week, on July 20.
The committee vote comes as all nine Supreme Court justices have objected to being bound to an ethics code — despite the deluge of reports that have come out in recent months detailing justices accepting lavish gifts, sometimes from people whose firms and businesses had business before the Court.
“The belief that [justices] 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,” Durbin and Whitehouse said.
“Since the Court won’t act, Congress will,” they continued.
Democrats Set Up Vote on Bill to Rein In Supreme Court Corruption – Truthout