Democrats’ hearing aims to destroy political enemies on Supreme Court, not uphold ethics.

Senate Democrats’ Smear Campaign Against Conservative Justices

For decades, Senate Democrats have been slinging mud at Republican-nominated Supreme Court justices. Despite years of failed attempts to stifle confirmations and ruin reputations, their campaign to delegitimize the justices and institution as a threat to their unconstitutional agenda continues with a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing focused on “ethics.”

But their concerns about justices’ financial disclosure and ethics practices are not genuine. It wasn’t until a string of coordinated recent hit pieces calling conservative-nominated justices’ integrity into question that leftist legislators on the Senate Judiciary Committee decided to take action.

Shoddy “Investigations” and Debunked Accusations

Politico’s Heidi Przybyla, who smeared Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, recently painted Justice Neil Gorsuch’s real estate – initiated two years before confirmation to the Supreme Court – as a picture of corruption. That piece of shoddy “investigation” was debunked just as easily as ProPublica’s attempt to accuse Justice Clarence Thomas of cozying up with a conflict of interest was quashed.

To justify their ongoing smear campaign, Democrats brought in congressional witnesses such as Kedric Payne, who is not only quoted in Politico’s Gorsuch smear but also works for a legal group that asserts on its front page the Supreme Court is “a threat to our democracy.”

Legislation to Compel Ethics Reform

They’ve also already introduced legislation that would compel the Judicial Conference of the United States, the federal courts’ policymaking body, to create a code of conduct, designate an Ethics Investigations Counsel, and mandate justices to disclose cases in which they recused or risk losing the court’s federal funding for their requested security budget.

But their tactics have become even more extreme. Democrats now threaten to cut off security funding for the Supreme Court – unless the Justices do what Dems want. This is AFTER an assassin tried to kill Justice Kavanaugh. Talk about threatening the rule of law.

• Senate Democrats’ campaign to delegitimize conservative-nominated Supreme Court justices continues with a hearing focused on “ethics.”
• Their concerns about justices’ financial disclosure and ethics practices are not genuine.
• Recent hit pieces calling conservative-nominated justices’ integrity into question have been debunked.
• Democrats brought in congressional witnesses who work for a legal group that asserts the Supreme Court is “a threat to our democracy.”
• Legislation has been introduced to compel ethics reform.
• Democrats now threaten to cut off security funding for the Supreme Court – unless the Justices do what Dems want.

Republicans See Through Democrats’ Shenanigans

During a recent hearing, Democrats attempted to push for new ethical rules for the Supreme Court, claiming that the current framework is not good enough. However, Republicans saw right through their shenanigans and called out their efforts to destroy the legitimacy of the current conservative court.

“The truth is the left simply disagrees with [Thomas’s] decisions and with the decisions of our current Supreme Court,” Republican Sen. Mike Lee said at the hearing. “And they obviously can’t persuade the American people to adopt their radical policies through legislation, so they’re attempting to destroy the court’s credibility and intimidate the Republican-appointed justices and their families. Starting with Justice Thomas, they’re making clear that justices who disagree with them will pay a price.”

The Supreme Court Is Not Home Depot

Democrats argued that the Supreme Court needs new, “binding” ethical rules, citing private companies like Home Depot as an example. However, Republicans pointed out that the Supreme Court is solely responsible for its financial disclosure and ethics rules, and that decisions about Supreme Court ethics are not for Congress to decide.

“The relationship the Constitution establishes between the Article One Congress and the Article Three Supreme Court is one of co-equals,” witness Thomas Dupree Jr. said during his testimony. “The judiciary is not an inferior branch.”

Republicans and Witnesses Speak Out

• Ranking Member Lindsey Graham: “This is not about trying to upgrade the ability of the court to be more transparent, but an effort to destroy the legitimacy of this current conservative court.”
• Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey: The Supreme Court is “solely responsible for its financial disclosure and ethics rules.”
• Thomas Dupree Jr.: “The judiciary is not an inferior branch.”

All nine members of the Supreme Court also signed a statement for the judiciary committee explaining that they did not plan to testify. Chief Justice John Roberts specifically wrote that any future congressional testimony by him on any issue would remain “exceedingly rare, as one might expect in light of separation of powers concerns and the importance of preserving judicial independence.”

undation (@Heritage) May 2, 2023