Tipsheet

Senate Democrats Continue Attack on SCOTUS With 'Ethics' Bill

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  June 11, 2024 8:30 PM

For several weeks, Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have been increasing their attacks on the U.S. Supreme Court, especially conservative justices like Justice Samuel Alito. They both sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, with Durbin being the chairman in addition to the majority whip. On Wednesday, Durbin is going to bring Supreme Court "ethics" bill to the floor, though it'll certainly fail from being passed via unanimous consent. Further, there's already an ethics code in place for the justices.

The move will reportedly come Wednesday, per The Hill:

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters that Democrats will attempt to move the ethics bill, which he authored with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), via unanimous consent. A Durbin spokesperson said the UC request would happen on Wednesday. 

A Republican senator is widely expected to deny consent. 

“We’re planning on making a move on the floor this week to move the ethics bill for the Supreme Court,” Durbin said, adding that “there may be some new evidence that comes out” related to ethics at the Court.

Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said the evidence is not related to the recordings of Justice Samuel Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann, that emerged on Monday. 

“It relates to the ethical considerations from some of the justices for gifts they’ve taken and not reported,” he said.

Democrats have been calling for the ethics bill to receive a vote on the floor, especially as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) holds votes to put Republicans on the record on hot-button issues.

That recording referenced has been criticized as another false flag kind of attack against Alito. Far-left Rolling Stone published "undercover audio" from Lauren Windsor who secretly recorded Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts at the Supreme Court’s Historical Society’s annual dinner. When she said she hoped America would return to a "place of godliness," Alito dared to respond "I agree with you." Jim Thompson, writing for our sister site of RedState, fittingly called the report a "2,000 word nothingburger."

If Windsor's name sounds familiar, it's because she, along with the Lincoln Project, was involved in that stunt just days before the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election, in which performance artists showed up to now Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's campaign bus. They appeared in khakis and white dress shirts, armed with tiki torches reminiscent of the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville from 2017. The Charlottesville City Council told off the Lincoln Project and Youngkin went on to beat former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe in that race. 

Curt Levey, a constitutional law attorney and the president of the Committee for Justice, spoke to Townhall to weigh in about what Durbin and Whitehouse's motivations might be. It's all familiar, as Levey has reminded before it has to do with Court decisions coming out that Democrats are surely not going to like, from January 6 to matters of administrative law. 

Recommended

No Circular Firing Squads This Time, Republicans Kurt Schlichter
Israel Is Not Interested In Victory With Gaza Alan Joseph Bauer

Durbin may try to deny that such reports factor into the timing of bringing the bill, but it's still mighty convenient. Levey pointed out that it's "not a coincidence" that such actions from Durbin and Whitehouse are happening now, not only as it has to do with the recording's release, but also the end of the Court's term. On that note, Levey offered that Democrats are "trying to discredit in advance" such decisions they won't like.

Pointing out how such a vote is "all for show," Levey offered that there is "no chance in the world" that the so-called bill will pass, whether by unanimous vote or in the Republican-controlled House. Durbin's "simply making a statement and trying to remind people he thinks the ethics of the Supreme Court are iffy and he’s doing it because he expects in the next few weeks there are going to be big Supreme Court decisions Democrats are not going to like," Levey added. 

When it comes to Durbin's denials, Whitehouse also shared reporting from The New York Times on the recording, as he claimed Alito "answered like a movement activist."

On those "ethical considerations," Guy touched upon those earlier on Tuesday, and how those concerns about taking gifts not reported are bogus. This includes trying to go after Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a liberal, but Democrats have been going after Alito's fellow conservative, Justice Clarence Thomas, for much longer over such an issue, using heavily criticized reports. 

This "ethics" bill looks to be a threat that Durbin and Whitehouse trot out every time there's a supposed issue with conservative justices. The New York Times also published multiple hit pieces about flags the Alitos flew on their properties, including an upside down American flag back in 2021, and an "Appeal to Heaven" flag last summer. In their various social media posts and letters trying to appeal to the chief justice, the senators have also promoted their bill. 

Another piece from The Hill from Monday covered how Whitehouse is looking for more information about an interview Alito gave with the Wall Street Journal published last July, not long after a ProPublica report came out regarding Alito's trips. ProPublica put out those heavily criticized pieces on Thomas as well. 

Levey, who spoke with Townhall about such an interview at the time, also noted "it's curious" that Whitehouse would try to bring up an interview from almost 11 months ago, as he again reminded we're in the final weeks of the Court's term. Levey also reiterated the real motivation behind such attacks, noting Durbin and Whitehouse are "going fast and furious to try to discredit the Supreme Court," whether by bringing up this interview or announcing such a bill. 

This isn't the only way in which Senate Democrats look to be going after the justices and the Court as a whole. Still another piece from The Hill addressed how "Democrats see Supreme Court leverage in spending bills," as Democrats are looking to tie bills on "ethics" to funding the Court.

The Judicial Crisis Network's Carrie Severino posted a warning about such a plan, highlighting how it comes "in the wake of more manufactured controversies ginned up by the Left."