The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-10 to advance legislation that would create a code of ethics for Supreme Court justices.
The bill advanced on party lines, with 11 Democrats voting for the bill and 10 Republicans voting against. It is not expected to get the 60 votes required to advance on the Senate floor – and even if it did, it would also likely fail in the GOP-controlled House.
Democrats have been pushing for a check on justices who violate ethics norms since a Pro Publica report revealed that Justice Clarence Thomas had accepted vacations and travel from a Republican mega donor. Justice Samuel Alito has also faced criticism for alleged ethics violations.
However, Senate Republicans have called this bill a partisan attack on the court’s conservative justices, and argued that Congress is overstepping by trying to make rules for a co-equal branch of government.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, said that the American people have a low opinion of the court after the allegations of ethical misconduct by Thomas and Alito.
“All the disclosures about lavish vacation gifts, travel, it goes on and on,” Durbin told reporters. “Failing to disclose this to the public has left a bitter taste in the mouth of most Americans about the Supreme Court.”
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut argued that Republican opposition to this bill could hurt them in the polls.
“This issue shouldn’t be partisan,” he said. “To be against ethics is not smart, it’s not right. It’s basically a betrayal of our democracy. And the Supreme Court has to be answerable to someone.”
Blumenthal pushed back on the Republican arguments that Congress cannot legislate rules for the Supreme Court.
“We prescribe ethical codes for the other branches of government for the other judges, hundreds of them that abide by ethical rules made for them and required of them by the United States Congress,” he noted.
However, Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee argued that the Supreme Court should be able to make its own rules.
“It’s up to Chief Justice Roberts,” she said. “And as we said in the press conference we did yesterday, we’ve got three branches of government, and the court can tend to this. This is not our place.”
She added that the bill would never become law, calling it a “messaging bill” and noting that the House would block it even if it got through the Senate.
