Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who represents a key Judiciary subcommittee, say they plan to mark up Supreme Court ethics reform legislation after the Fourth of July in response to a new report that conservative Justice Samuel Alito accepted a free trip on the private plane of a billionaire who had business before the court.
“The highest court in the land should not have the lowest ethical standards. But for too long that has been the case with the United States Supreme Court. That needs to change. That’s why when the Senate returns after the July 4th recess, the Senate Judiciary Committee will mark up Supreme Court ethics legislation,” Durbin and Whitehouse announced in a joint statement Wednesday.
“We hope that before that time, Chief Justice Roberts will take the lead and bring Supreme Court ethics in line with all other federal judges. But if the Court won’t act, then Congress must,” the senators wrote.
They unveiled their plan hours after ProPublica reported Alito accepted a trip on a private plane owned by hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer in July 2008 to a luxury fishing lodge in Alaska.
The cost to the justice had he chartered a flight would have been up to $100,000 each way.
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ProPublica reported Alito failed to disclose the travel as ostensibly required by law and also decided not to later recuse himself from a 2014 case that affected Singer’s hedge fund.
Alito argued in a Wall Street Journal op-ed responding to ProPublica’s report that he was not required to report the plane trip nor to recuse himself from the case, which the court decided by a 7-1 majority in Singer’s favor.
Durbin and Whitehouse criticized the court for not doing more to police its members for creating the appearance of impropriety or conflicts of interest.
“The Supreme Court is in an ethical crisis of its own making due to the acceptance of lavish gifts from parties with business before the Court that several Justices have not disclosed. The reputation and credibility of the Court are at stake. Chief Justice Roberts could resolve this today, but he has not acted,” the lawmakers said.