Democrats To Hold Supreme Court Ethics Talk In Attempt To Ramp Up Pressure

Democrats on the House oversight committee are planning to hold a discussion on Supreme Court ethics with expert panelists Tuesday as public trust in the institution continues to take hits.

The committee’s ranking member, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), will lead the discussion alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who chairs the Senate judiciary subcommittee on federal courts.

All three lawmakers have repeatedly joined calls for the court to implement stricter standards of conduct in order to reassure the public of its ability to decide cases fairly, particularly those relating to former President Donald Trump.

“The highest court in the land has the lowest ethical standards,” Raskin said Thursday in a statement. “This mismatch is producing unequal justice under law in America. Behind closed doors, billionaire sugar daddies give Supreme Court justices lavish gifts and push through an extremist agenda against the rights of the people. The whole country is caught in a supreme ethics crisis.”

While Justice Clarence Thomas grabbed headlines in recent years when it was revealed the extent to which he and his Trump-aligned wife accepted lavish gifts from wealthy friends interested in the court’s work, it is Justice Samuel Alito who has claimed the spotlight in recent weeks with a flag scandal.

At least two flags associated with Trump’s MAGA movement were flown at Alito’s residences since the Jan. 6, 2021, attempted coup at the Capitol. In one incident, the American flag was flown upside-down in front of the Alitos’ suburban Virginia home; in another, the “Appeal to Heaven” flag was flown outside the Alitos’ New Jersey beach house.

Both are controversial symbols of political