Lawmakers Hold Hearing on SCOTUS Ethics Concerns

Facts

• The US Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday clashed over the possibility of imposing ethical standards on SCOTUS following recent reports surrounding the actions of Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.¹
• While Thomas has been accused of failing to disclose his financial relationship with billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow, Gorsuch allegedly didn't disclose selling land to Brian Duffy, a lawyer whose firm has been involved in at least 22 SCOTUS cases since the deal.²
• Chief Justice John Roberts declined an invitation to testify at the hearing, instead releasing a short letter and a joint statement signed by all nine justices reaffirming their voluntary adherence to the compulsory code of conduct for lower federal justices.³
• The witnesses at the hearing included judicial ethics expert Amanda Frost and former federal judge Jeremy Fogel, who both supported the establishment of a SCOTUS code of conduct, claiming that Congress has a constitutional right to regulate the court's ethics.¹
• On the other side, former US Attorney General Michael Mukasey and lawyer Thomas Dupree shared concerns that imposing such a code would breach the separation of powers between the branches of the US government.¹
• Meanwhile, last week, legislation that requires SCOTUS to establish a code of conduct within one year was introduced. However, the bill will likely struggle in a divided Congress.⁴

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²MSNBC, ³NPR Online News, and ⁴Washington Post.

Narratives

• Democratic narrative, as provided by Los Angeles Times. The fact that SCOTUS justices aren't bound by a code of conduct is troubling, and reforming the courts to change this reality shouldn't be a partisan issue. However, even if legislation is adopted, it won't fully rectify the court's continued issues with credibility. Ethical lapses are only secondary to the reality that SCOTUS' public opinion rating has been tarnished as a blatantly partisan institution manipulated by Republicans in recent years.
• Republican narrative, as provided by Washington Examiner. Since the swing towards a conservative and originalist majority in recent years, SCOTUS has faced a cynical and sustained campaign by the left to undermine its every move. Certain questions of the judiciary should rightly be asked, but this coordinated attack, which ignores examples of the exact same behavior by progressive justices, is wrong. The current Democratic crusade is simply the angry reaction of activists who no longer have a majority of pliable justices whose wills can be bent as seen fit.

Predictions