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Dick Durbin Responds to Justice Alito's Rebuke of SCOTUS 'Ethics' Legislation: 'Not the 101st' Senator

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  August 03, 2023 10:45 AM

Recently, Justice Samuel Alito dared to speak out against so-called "ethics" reforms targeting the U.S. Supreme Court, pointing out that Congress doesn't actually have the authority to regulate the Court, "period." That didn't sit too well with many Democrats, including Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL). "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," Durbin pointed out in part in a statement posted to the office of his website and the Committee.

At least for voting purposes, there already is a 101st member of the Senate, Vice President Kamala Harris. Curt Levey, a constitutional law attorney and the president of the Committee for Justice, who shared with Townhall earlier this week that he agrees with Alito's comments, also tweeted out a clapback.

Levey pointed out in part that "Dick Durbin is not the 10th member of the Supreme Court" and that the Committee's "ethics bill is unwise and unwelcome." 

Durbin also tweeted out the full statement over Twitter. "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," the statement began. It looks like the Court will indeed continue what Durbin categorizes as having "resisted" and "rebuffed" these efforts to impose. 

What they're trying to tell Durbin has been to stay in his lane. It's about co-equal branches and separation of powers here.  "He & his colleagues can’t impose an ethics code on #SCOTUS, an equal & independent entity under the Constitution, any more than the Court can impose an ethics code on Congress," Levey's tweet also said about Durbin.

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In addition to his comments about Alito mentioned above, Durbin claimed that that "ethical conduct" is "within this Committee’s jurisdiction" and that "[e]nsuring ethical conduct by the justices is critical to the Court’s legitimacy."

As the justices have mentioned multiple times, though, including the chief justice in his letter to Durbin from late April, they already abide by a statement of ethics. 

What followed was even stronger, more threatening in nature language from Durbin, including about Alito having to ask himself what he does next. "I’ve said from the beginning of this inquiry: if the Court does not act on ethics reform, Congress will," he said, repeating the same point he's made over and over, which the Court continues to push back against.

The bill that Durbin referred to, the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act, did indeed advance out of Committee last month, but it did so entirely on partisan lines. Republican members of the Committee made particularly clear their opposition. Although the Committee eventually voted unanimously in favor of an amendment condemning racist attacks against another conservative justice, Justice Clarence Thomas, it still took the Democratic members considerable time to get there.

Considering that it needs 60 votes to pass, the bill has no chance of actually succeeding. 

Durbin still keep tweeting about "ethics" of the Court throughout Wednesday and into Thursday morning, emphasizing the same points repeatedly.