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As Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have confronted rather serious ethics questions in recent months, the typical response from congressional Republicans has been total indifference. It’s unfortunate, of course, but GOP lawmakers are aligned with the far-right jurists ideologically, so they’re perfectly content to shrug their shoulders in response to legitimate controversies.
Perhaps Republicans will take more of an interest in this Associated Press report on colleges and libraries purchasing copies of Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s books ahead of her appearances?
Sotomayor’s staff has often prodded public institutions that have hosted the justice to buy her memoir or children’s books, works that have earned her at least $3.7 million since she joined the court in 2009. Details of those events, largely out of public view, were obtained by The Associated Press through more than 100 open records requests to public institutions. The resulting tens of thousands of pages of documents offer a rare look at Sotomayor and her fellow justices beyond their official duties.
To be sure, as judicial scandals go, “prodding” from a justice’s staff isn’t nearly as dramatic as Thomas’ expansive ethics controversies. These are qualitatively different kinds of stories.
In fact, in a statement to the AP, the Supreme Court said it works with the justices and their staff to ensure they are “complying with judicial ethics guidance for such visits.”
“When (Sotomayor) is invited to participate in a book program, Chambers staff recommends the number of books (for an organization to order) based on the size of the audience so as not to disappoint attendees who may anticipate books being available at an event,” the court said.
In other words, it seems relatively benign, all things considered.
But for those eager to overhaul the Supreme Court’s approach to ethics — and those who lament the lack of a judicial code of conduct that applies to sitting justices — the Sotomayor angle could create a new opportunity for bipartisan policymaking.
Indeed, the timing is of particular interest. NBC News reported late yesterday afternoon:
Top Senate Democrats announced Monday that a key committee will vote on legislation to set up a code of conduct for the Supreme Court, tighten financial disclosure rules and beef up recusal requirements for justices. The Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act, led by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., will get a vote in the committee on July 20, they announced in a joint statement.
“Whether you agree or disagree with the most recent historic decisions by the Supreme Court, we hope we can all agree on one thing — these nine justices have extraordinary powers under our Constitution,” Whitehouse and Durbin said in a joint statement. “The belief that they should not be held accountable or even disclose lavish gifts from wealthy benefactors is an affront to the nation they were chosen to serve. To hold these nine Justices to the same standard as every other federal judge is not a radical or partisan notion.”
“Since the Court won’t act, Congress will,” the Democratic senator added.
As of this morning, their bill has 22 co-sponsors — but literally zero support from Senate Republicans.
If GOP members could be convinced that this isn’t strictly a partisan matter, and that reforms would apply equally to jurists from the left, right, and center, perhaps an overhaul might stand a better chance at success?