Khanna calls for Roberts to testify before Congress: ‘What are you afraid of?’

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) Sunday called for Chief Justice John Roberts to testify before Congress amid controversy about ethics standards on the Supreme Court and in the wake of controversial decisions from the nation’s highest bench.

“You know, look, I’ve met the chief justice. I met him a couple of years ago, and he said he cared about the legitimacy of the court. The legitimacy of democracy. Well, if he cares about the legitimacy of democracy, he should come testify,”  Khanna said on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki.”

“In past times, Supreme Court justices would meet with members of Congress and the Senate — it used to be common. Part of the whole problem here … is they’re so cloistered, they’re so out of touch, they don’t have a sense of what life is like. So my plea to him would be, for the good of democracy, come testify. What are you afraid of?”

Khanna said he would support hearings on the matter, but when pressed on whether he’d support a congressional subpoena for Roberts, the California lawmaker said he’d defer to the Senate committee and to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) last week suggested a subpoena for Roberts if he won’t testify voluntarily.

The justices have come under scrutiny after reports in recent months about financial disclosures from Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito raised questions about the court’s ethics standards as they weigh in on national issues. Roberts in April declined an invitation to testify before the Senate about the Supreme Court’s ethical standards.

The Supreme Court wrapped up its term with several controversial rulings. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) criticized Roberts for failing to enact ethics reform before the court’s term ended.

The court’s approval rating dropped to a record low in Quinnipiac University polling last month, with just 30 percent of registered voters reporting they approved of the Supreme Court.