Durbin Responds to Justice Alito Comments on Supreme Court Ethics Reform
Durbin: "Justice Alito is not the 101st member of the United States Senate. His intervention in Article I activity is unwise and unwelcome.”
CHICAGO – Today, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement on Justice Samuel Alito’s public criticism of Supreme Court ethics reform legislation in a recent Wall Street Journal interview:
“Thus far, the Supreme Court has resisted efforts by the Senate Judiciary Committee to engage on ethics reform beginning with Chief Justice Roberts, who has rebuffed information requests and an invitation to discuss this important oversight matter.
“Now, Justice Alito is providing speculative public commentary on a bill that is still going through the legislative process. Let’s be clear: Justice Alito is not the 101st member of the United States Senate. His intervention in Article I activity is unwise and unwelcome.
“The ethical conduct of Supreme Court Justices is a serious matter within this Committee’s jurisdiction. Ensuring ethical conduct by the justices is critical to the Court’s legitimacy. The next time Justice Alito thinks about taking a private plane to a billionaire-funded fishing trip, he should have to ask more than ‘Can I take this empty seat?’ He should have to ask if doing so is consistent with his legally-mandated ethical obligations.
“I’ve said from the beginning of this inquiry: if the Court does not act on ethics reform, Congress will. We advanced a bill to do so last month, and we will continue our push to ensure that the highest court in America does not have the lowest ethical standards.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act to the full Senate on July 20.
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