Democrats propose bill to regulate Supreme Court.

Congress Urged to Impose Code of Conduct on Supreme Court

Congress must impose a code of conduct on the Supreme Court that requires justices to recuse themselves when there is a financial connection between the justice or the justice’s family and someone having business before the court, a Democrat-controlled congressional oversight committee heard on June 14.

If the Supreme Court won’t act, Congress will, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said at the meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights.

The subcommittee was reviewing the proposed Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act (SCERT) of 2023, S.359, which Whitehouse, its chairman, introduced in February. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) introduced a companion bill, H.R. 926, in the House of Representatives at the same time.

Whitehouse’s bill is co-sponsored by 21 senators, including Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hi.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who caucuses with the Democrats.

Whitehouse is an outspoken critic of the Supreme Court, and in particular, conservative justices such as Clarence Thomas.

Democrats are outraged that wealthy Republican donor Harlan Crow reportedly gave Thomas luxurious vacations, tuition support for a grandnephew he raised, and purchased a property from the Thomas family. Thomas did not disclose them, saying he was advised it was not required. He has vowed to disclose such events going forward.

Democrats say the gifts in themselves are proof of corruption, but legal experts disagree. Legal experts also point out there was no conflict of interest because Crow did not have any business before the Supreme Court.

While recent congressional hearings about Supreme Court ethics have been tense and filled with rancor and accusations, no voices were raised at this gathering.

That may be because no Republican senators spoke at the hearing. At other hearings, Republicans have strenuously objected to Democrats’ efforts to use legislation to regulate the Supreme Court. Republicans argue that the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers prevents Congress from regulating the justices’ behavior. Republicans have suggested that Democrats only want to move against the court because its conservative majority has been rendering decisions they find objectionable.

For example, at a May 2 hearing, former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, told lawmakers that Democrats’ concerns about the ethics of the Supreme Court were self-interested and overblown, The Epoch Times reported.

“It is impossible to escape the conclusion that the public is being asked to hallucinate misconduct so as to undermine the authority of justices who issue rulings with which these critics disagree, and thus to undermine the authority of the rulings themselves,” Mukasey said.

At this hearing, Whitehouse said at a speech two weeks ago that Chief Justice John Roberts “acknowledged the court has more to do, that justices are continuing to look at things they can do to give practical effect to that ethics commitment, and that he’s confident that there are ways to do that, ways to do more,” referring to an address Roberts delivered on May 23.

“Bogus personal hospitality, obvious conflicts of interests, phony front group anarchy. These are all areas ripe for repair,” he said.

“The American people are tired of waiting,” Whitehouse said.

“A new poll released the same day as the chief justice’s remarks shows that almost 60 percent of Americans disapprove of the way the Supreme Court is doing its job. And that Americans are more likely to think that the justices’ honesty and ethical standards were low or very low. For an institution that depends on the public’s faith to carry out its functions, that is unsettling territory. If the Supreme Court isn’t going to do anything to restore the public’s trust, it’s up to us in Congress.”

“We need to know more about front groups that helped appoint Trump’s justices, and then appear as litigants before those same justices,” he said.

Whitehouse also took aim at Thomas, who was appointed in 1989 by the late Republican President George H.W. Bush, saying that the justice has refused to recuse himself from cases involving the disputed 2020 election or the e