A former federal judge who was an informal adviser to former Vice President Pence submitted a written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee ahead of its Supreme Court ethics hearing on Tuesday.
In the testimony, obtained by Politico, J. Michael Luttig wrote that the Supreme Court should subject itself to the “highest possible professional and ethical standards.” He wrote that while Congress “indisputably has the power” to prescribe ethical standards on the Supreme Court, it should not have to.
But, as he noted, Congress would not have the power to require the Supreme Court to impose ethical standards on itself.
“The Supreme Court should want to lead by the example that only it can set,” Luttig wrote. “It should want to conduct itself in its non-judicial activities in all ways such that it is beyond reproach. Indeed, such that it is beyond all reproach.”
Reporting from ProPublica found that Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose a series of luxury trips he’d taken, paid for by Republican donor Harlan Crow. This prompted outrage from critics and Democrats, who called a Judiciary Hearing in the Senate to discuss the court’s ethics on Tuesday.
While Luttig did not comment specifically on Thomas, he noted the justices should conduct themselves in non-judicial contexts in “such a manner that they are individually deserving of respect — indeed, beyond reproach, not only in fact, but also in appearance. This, at all times and places, in both public and in private.”
Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe also echoed Luttig’s statement, writing in his testimony, which Politico obtained, that Congress has the power to enact federal standards on the high court. He says this would create a “far greater transparency than the Supreme Court seems to have been willing to impose on itself.”
“Congress should not be intimidated by the power and prestige of the Justices, whose position of privilege — as they pass final judgment on the most contentious issues of the day from the comfort of the Marble Palace they occupy — ought to be its own reward,” he wrote.