Lindsey Graham says Congress should stay out of Supreme Court business in ethics bill debate
Eden Villalovas
Video Embed
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Congress should “stay out” of the Supreme Court’s business at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday, addressing justices’ relationships with wealthy donors and accepting undisclosed gifts.
Republican Senate Judiciary Committee members have expressed their opposition this week to the Democrats’ move to push a Supreme Court ethics bill by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), which would make Chief Justice John Roberts adopt a code of conduct for all justices.
HOW NEW YORK CITY’S GREEN ‘CONGESTION TAX’ COULD BACKFIRE
“Two things can be true at the same time — liberal Democrats have been trying to destroy the Roberts Court for quite a while now because they don’t like the outcome of certain decisions,” Graham said, adding, “Their words, not mine.”
Graham pointed to the number of high-profile cases of justices accepting luxury gifts and taking expensive trips with donors, that have come to light recently.
“Two things can be true — the court probably needs to address that issue. I think they do, I believe they will,” Graham said. “And Congress needs to stay out of the court’s business.”
Attacks on Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, staunch conservatives, by Democrats, spurred on by reports in ProPublica, have reinvigorated calls for the court to adopt a code of ethics similar to those in use by lower courts.
The stories questioned the judgment of Thomas and Alito because they had spent time with wealthy individuals in their private lives who later tangentially had business before the court. Neither Alito nor Thomas recused themselves from the cases in question because the parties involved were organizations associated with the donors, but not the donors themselves.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) allowed the legislation to enter the floor, with members marking up the bill to tighten ethics rules for Supreme Court justices.
Graham said Durbin “decided to take up legislation that I think is fundamentally constitutionally flawed, should make every American afraid.”