‘Congress should stay out’ of regulating Supreme Court ethics, McConnell says
In light of another bombshell report detailing undisclosed gifts to a Supreme Court justice, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that Congress should have no role in trying to write ethics laws for the nation’s highest court.
“The Supreme Court, in my view, can’t be dictated to by Congress,” McConnell said on Capitol Hill in response to a question.
On Monday, ProPublica published an article revealing that Justice Samuel Alito had taken an Alaskan vacation valued over $100,000 with billionaire Republican donor Paul Singer, who later had at least ten cases heard before the Supreme Court. Alito never disclosed the gifts and claimed in a Wall Street Journal op-ed he never spoke with Singer about issues that came before the court.
In April, the same publication reported that Justice Clarence Thomas enjoyed luxury vacations paid for by billionaire GOP donor Harlan Crow. Similarly, Thomas never reported the trips on financial disclosure forms.
The twin cases have reignited calls on Capitol Hill for Congress to tighten the ethics rules guiding Supreme Court judges.
Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told ProPublica that this behavior would not be tolerated from a city council member or alderman, “yet the Supreme Court won’t even acknowledge it’s a problem.”
Yet McConnell has invoked constitutional separation between the legislative branch and the courts as a reason the court should police itself.
“I think the chief justice will address these issues. Congress should stay out of it, because we don’t, I think have the jurisdiction to tell the Supreme Court how to handle the issue,” McConnell said Wednesday, reiterating his response to Thomas’ gifts in April.
McConnell said he had complete confidence in Chief Justice John Roberts “to look out for the court, as well as its reputation.”
The reputation of the high court is suffering, according to a new national poll released by Quinnipiac University on Wednesday.
Just 29% of Americans approve of the job the Supreme Court is doing, with 58% registering a negative opinion of the conservative-led court. Nearly 7 in 10 Americans think the high court is mainly motivated by politics with just 25% believing its top motivation is the law.
While many congressional Democrats believe they have the power to rein in Supreme Court justices’ conduct, Republicans argue that a system in which Congress vests superior authority over the court would be unconstitutional.
One bipartisan proposal, written by independent Sen. Angus King and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, would force the court to adopt ethical standards of its own choosing.
