House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) went on a tangent about the Supreme Court being “corrupt” on Tuesday, referencing the ethics scandals involving conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
Jeffries made the accusation unrelated to a question from CNN host Wolf Blitzer, who asked him what he thought of Sen. Angus King’s (I-ME) decision to vote in favor of ending the government shutdown.
The top House Democrat blamed President Donald Trump and Republicans for the “suffering” the nation has endured since the start of the shutdown in October. He said the Republican Party is waging an “all-out assault” on the economy, healthcare, and other areas.
Jeffries then vowed House Democrats would clean up corruption in Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court.
When Blitzer asked for clarification on the Supreme Court allegation, the congressman reinforced his position.
“What I’m saying is that the outrageous behavior by individual justices like Clarence Thomas and Justice [Samuel] Alito, and the failure to have an ethical code of conduct, is corrupt. These are the only people in the country who can operate above the law,” he said.
Thomas and Alito became embroiled in controversies involving their alleged acceptance of luxury trips and gifts from major Republican donors, which Democrats alleged possibly violated federal law. The two justices did not disclose their gifts at the time.
After the ethics scandals were reported by ProPublica, the Supreme Court adopted its first code of ethics in November 2023 in response to pressure from Democratic lawmakers. There is no enforcement mechanism for the current ethics code.
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Meanwhile, Jeffries maintained that the 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court is part of the corruption in Washington, D.C., that disadvantages U.S. citizens.
“What I am suggesting is that as we focus on delivering a country that actually works for working-class Americans,” he continued, “we’ve got to make sure that every single branch of government is working in a manner consistent with lifting up the quality of life of everyday Americans and holding themselves to the same standards that working-class Americans are expected to live by: work hard and play by the rules.”