Lisa Murkowski, would require the court act to officially establish its own ethics rules and appoint a third party to review potential conflicts of interest. Angus King, a Maine independent, and Alaska’s Republican Sen.

Sheldon Whitehouse, a member of the Judiciary Committee, to establish a transparent code of conduct and procedures for disqualification.Īnother recent proposal by Sens. And that’s what we will pursue,” Durbin said during the hearing’s opening remarks.Īt question during Tuesday’s hearing were several bills aiming to hold the justices to stricter standards, including one recent proposal by Rhode Island’s Democratic Sen. We have the right and rationale to enact such reform.

“The answers we received further highlight the need for meaningful Supreme Court ethics reform. In a follow-up letter Monday, Roberts wrote that there are “no set rules” for the court’s adoption of such principles or guidelines.Ĭommittee Chair Dick Durbin of Illinois said Roberts’ reasoning for not testifying before the committee was insufficient. In declining the invitation to testify in front of the committee, Roberts asserted that the court must remain independent and that it adheres to its own set of principles.

Wade and striking down New York’s concealed carry law. GOP members of the panel dismissed the hearing as “selective outrage” - as ranking member Lindsey Graham of South Carolina put it - against the court’s conservative majority that recently handed down controversial high-profile decisions, including overturning Roe v. Supreme Court justices should follow a strict code of ethics when receiving gifts and travel or doing business with political funders and attorneys, argued Democratic senators Tuesday at a hearing that Chief Justice John Roberts declined to attend.Īfter a spate of investigative articles detailing Justice Clarence Thomas’ luxury travel and real estate transactions with a GOP donor, and a property sale by a limited liability company partly owned by Justice Neil Gorsuch to a law firm head, Democratic leaders on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary maintained the highest court in the land cannot be trusted to police itself. Beacon editor Lauren McCauley contributed reporting to this story.

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