judiciary chair dick durbin's letter to john roberts re clarence thomas & confidence in SCOTUS

[orleans]

from dick durbin's website

April 10, 2023

Dear Chief Justice Roberts:

We write regarding the April 6, 2023 report by ProPublica entitled “Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire.” The report describes conduct by a sitting Justice that he did not disclose to the public and that is plainly inconsistent with the ethical standards the American people expect of any person in a position of public trust.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, which has legislative jurisdiction over Federal courts and judges, has a role to play in ensuring that the nation’s highest court does not have the federal judiciary’s lowest ethical standards. You have a role to play as well, both in investigating how such conduct could take place at the Court under your watch, and in ensuring that such conduct does not happen again. We urge you to immediately open such an investigation and take all needed action to prevent further misconduct.

This is not the first time that members of this Committee have written you regarding concerns over the Supreme Court’s ethical standards. Eleven years ago, several members of the Committee, including the current Chair, sent you the attached letter urging the Court to adopt a resolution stating that the Justices of the Court abide by the Judicial Conference’s Code of Conduct for United States Judges—a Code that binds every other judge in the federal judiciary. You responded that the Court “does not plan to adopt the Code of Conduct for United States Judges through a formal resolution,” and referenced your 2011 Year-End Report, in which you said “the Court has had no reason to adopt the Code of Conduct as its definitive source of ethical guidance.” We submit that the Court has compelling reasons to do so, and urge prompt adoption of the Code of Conduct. While last month’s revision to the Judicial Conference’s guidance on judicial financial disclosures was a modest step in the right direction, further action is needed.

Notably, on October 5, 2011, Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer testified before the Judiciary Committee and engaged in a discussion with Committee members about the Court’s ethical standards. In its reporting on that hearing, the New York Times noted that “[t]he ethical conduct of the Supreme Court has been under growing scrutiny” and that “[q]uestions have been raised over Justice Clarence Thomas’s appearances before Republican-backed groups and his acceptance of favors from a contributor in Texas, Harlan Crow” (emphasis added).

It is troubling that your 2011 year-end report, which dismissed the call for the Justices to adopt the Code of Conduct, was written notwithstanding the known concerns about Mr. Crow’s largesse. This problem could have been resolved then. Instead, according to ProPublica’s reporting, Mr. Crow’s dispensation of favors escalated in secret during the years that followed. Now the Court faces a crisis of public confidence in its ethical standards that must be addressed.

In the coming days, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing regarding the need to restore confidence in the Supreme Court’s ethical standards. And if the Court does not resolve this issue on its own, the Committee will consider legislation to resolve it. But you do not need to wait for Congress to act to undertake your own investigation into the reported conduct and to ensure that it cannot happen again. We urge you to do so.

Thank you for your attention to this matter of critical importance.

Sincerely,

https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-senate-judiciary-democrats-urge-chief-justice-roberts-to-investigate-justice-thomas-undisclosed-gifts-and-take-action-to-prevent-further-misconduct

my bold

[Ray Bruns]

1. What John Roberts read:"blah blah blah. Something about ethics blah blah blah."

[Karadeniz]

2. How would it have hurt for Roberts to have adopted an ethics code? Also, IMPEACH!!!

[Irish_Dem]

3. A sternly worded letter will really scare the Supreme Court Junta.

[moonscape]

4. The issue is disclosure, but what happens when

Thomas discloses he accepted a 500k gift from Crow. The beat goes on. What fixes the corruption?

[dchill]

16. 500k is such a piddling amount for Clarence...

...and Ginni. Why bother reporting?

[gratuitous]

5. I hope this is the last preliminary before the Senate starts doing something

A rogue judiciary is inflicting harm on the country that will take generations to heal. The time for pussy-footing around the issue is long past.

[brush]

6. 12 years and nothing done. Roberts' SCOTUS is awash in corruption.

Clarence Thomas and his wife seem to be wallowing in it, as does beer boy Kavanaugh whose many debts were mysteriously paid up suddenly by who knows who when his pathetic and tear-soaked confirmation was on the line. And don't forget Gorsuch's poor judgement in the trucker case.

AWASH is the watch word.

[intheflow]

7. This is like me giving the landlord next door a heads up before I call the cops on

him for his tenants leaving couches and other bulk items on the curb in front of their house for months.

The difference is, the landlord responds appropriately and collects the trash. This SCOTUS cleaning the trash off their own property? Never gonna happen without legislation.

[Pepsidog]

8. Roberts is deaf, dumb, and blind to the ethical failings of USSC.

[ancianita]

9. While impeachment will go nowhere, Congress' conducting Judicial Reform will. Such an undertaking

can result in an expanded SCOTUS to thirteen justices, as well as increased funding and personnel for a system that is not representative of the US population presently. Given that the judicial system is slow moving, underfunded and short on personnel, is past time to make major improvements in the Third Branch.

Let it be the first order of business when Democrats take over both houses in 2024.

If Durbin moves the Senate toward Judicial Review and Reform, my low opinion of him will change.

[progressoid]

10. Yeah...we need an investigation like they did for the Roe decision leaks.

That'll fix it.

[Pepsidog]

11. Time for the Dem appointees on SCOTUS to abandon their silence and speak out loudly and clearly

about what is happening behind closes doors. It’s time for Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson to speak out in loud, forceful, and unapologetic terms about the ass backwards slide the Court has taken the nation from guns, religion, and reproductive rights. They need to stop being polite and all three pull back the veil of secrecy and tell us what they really think. It’s way past the time to stop being polite and start sounding the alarm.

[erronis]

12. The Roberts Supreme Court is obviously pro-abortion. The abortion of justice in the US.

Sorry to smear some of the bona-fide justices on the court. It's just that they are the minority thanks to big money and irreligious religious nuts.

[Hekate]

13. Translation: you write a code of ethics, or the Senate will.

[hot2na]

14. What did John Robert's know

What did John Roberts know about Clarence Thomas’s corruption and when did he know it.

Hey I’m just asking the questions!

[NullTuples]

15. "In the coming days..." I wonder how much media coverage the hearing will get?

Unfortunately, Durbin showed his hand in that fourth-to-last sentence, "the Committee will consider legislation to resolve it". Said legislation would have to pass the Republican controlled House, and Justice Roberts knows this.

[Cheezoholic]

17. I think Durbin is basically telling Roberts to get Thomas to resign or else

While impeachment may be difficult the threat could be very powerful. An impeachment, even if unsuccessful, could expose a bunch of shit Roberts would prefer not be dried on the public laundry line. I think there's going to be ever growing pressure for Thomas to go bye bye.

[multigraincracker]

18. A little sunshine please.

A public investigation into every penny the Judge and his wife have taken in and spent in the last 6 years.
That could, or might not restore some confidence in the Court.

[ShazzieB]

19. I did not realize that concerns about Thomas' corruption went back that far!

Notably, on October 5, 2011, Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer testified before the Judiciary Committee and engaged in a discussion with Committee members about the Court’s ethical standards. In its reporting on that hearing, the New York Times noted that “[t]he ethical conduct of the Supreme Court has been under growing scrutiny” and that “[q]uestions have been raised over Justice Clarence Thomas’s appearances before Republican-backed groups and his acceptance of favors from a contributor in Texas, Harlan Crow”

I wonder how far it DOES go back? Thomas had been on the court for 20 years by the time Scalia and Breyer testified about it in 2011. And now here we are 12 years later, same shit, different decade!