The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s Supreme Court ethics legislation to the full Senate Thursday.
In a 11-10 party line vote Thursday, the committee advanced Whitehouse’s Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act, which would require the justices to adopt a code of ethics, increase disclosure and recusal requirements and establish a process for reviewing and investigating complaints made against justices. Republicans, none of whom voted in favor of the bill, spent the markup slamming it as an effort to delegitimize and intimidate the Supreme Court over decisions Democrats disagree with.
“This legislation is meant to be a court killing machine,” said Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy. “It would allow any jack loon out there in America in a tin foil hat whose own dog thinks he’s an utter nutter to file a motion to recuse [a] United States Supreme Court justice.”
The highest court in the land shouldn’t have the lowest ethical standards.
That’s why @JudiciaryDems just advanced my Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act out of committee. Onward!
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) July 20, 2023
Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee, referencing reporting by the Daily Caller News Foundation on donors ProPublica shares with activist groups calling for Justice Clarence Thomas to resign, detailed the “dark money” behind the outlet’s “hit pieces underlying this legislation and the perceived need for it on the Left.” (RELATED: Mike Lee References DCNF Reporting On ProPublica Donors During Senate Judiciary Debate On SCOTUS Ethics Bill)
Lee also called the legislation a “solution looking for a problem.” The legislation is not expected to become law, as Democrats lack the votes, Republicans noted during the markup.
“They don’t have the votes,” Kennedy said. “This thing is as dead as fried chicken on the Senate floor. And it’s dead as fried chicken in the House.”
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