![]() Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), sought to tie enactment of the entire ethics bill to disclosure of the origins of that report. Several amendments offered by Republicans Thursday focused on stemming leaks from the Supreme Court, especially following POLITICO’s exclusive report last year about a draft majority opinion overturning the federal constitutional right to abortion established in Roe v. issued in March that excludes private aircraft travel from the sort of personal hospitality that doesn’t have to be reported on annual personal financial disclosures. Graham said the broader ethics legislation was unnecessary because the Supreme Court has already taken action, pointing to a clarification the Judicial Conference of the U.S. During Thursday’s session, the panel rejected amendments to expand the authority of Supreme Court police to conduct criminal investigations of threats, protests and security issues at the justices’ homes and during travel. Schumer apologized the next day, saying his words “did not come out the way I intended to” and that he was referencing political consequences.īut his walk-back more than three years ago has not dissuaded Republicans from linking threats and protests against conservative justices to Schumer’s speech. ![]() His language was widely condemned, including in an unusual statement by Chief Justice John Roberts. … You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions,” Schumer added emphatically. Republicans repeatedly referenced Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s impassioned statement on the steps of the Supreme Court in March 2020 warning Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh that they “have released the whirlwind.” ![]() It’s about harassing and intimidating the Supreme Court,” Sen. “This bill is not about oversight or accountability. Its recusal requirements are a law passed by Congress,” he said.ĭurbin sought to make the effort sound more bipartisan by referencing not only the high-profile allegations against Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito over travel on private jets but also a recent report that Justice Sonia Sotomayor ’s court staff boosted her book sales.īut Republicans said the entire Democratic effort was an act of retaliation aimed at the high court’s 6-3 conservative supermajority and its decisions last year overturning abortion rights and expanding gun rights. “Remember, as we debate this, the court’s financial disclosure requirements are a law passed by Congress. Whitehouse scoffed at GOP suggestions that Congress is overstepping its bounds by seeking to tighten the ethics regime for the high court. “This thing’s dead as fried chicken on the Senate floor and it’s dead as fried chicken in the House.” “You don’t have to be Oliver Wendell Scalia to figure out that this legislation is meant to be a court-killing machine,” Sen. This bill is going nowhere,” ranking member Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said. Republican senators voiced their displeasure with the measure. Justices would also be subject to clearer rules on recusing themselves from cases where they may have a conflict of interest, or an appearance of one. It also would establish more stringent rules for disclosure of gifts and travel. The Whitehouse proposal would give the court 180 days to adopt and publish a code of conduct and allow the public to submit ethics complaints that would be reviewed by a randomly selected panel of lower court judges. Sheldon Whitehouse, one of Congress’ leading critics of the court, said Congress must act because the justices have failed to implement any meaningful reforms on their own.
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