As Townhall has been covering, The New York Times has been out with multiple hit pieces on Justice Samuel Alito, namely when it comes to the flags flown on his properties. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), who also serves as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), are now calling for a meeting with Chief Justice John Roberts on the matter. This comes after there's already been calls for Alito to recuse from cases addressing the 2020 election.
BREAKING: Chair Durbin, Sen. Whitehouse request meeting ASAP with Chief Justice Roberts to urge Alito recusal from January 6th cases.
— Senate Judiciary Committee (@JudiciaryDems) May 24, 2024
New: @SenatorDurbin @SenWhitehouse seeking a meeting with Roberts over Alito controversy pic.twitter.com/aE69F7Jpr8
— John Bresnahan (@bresreports) May 24, 2024
Per a press release from Whitehouse's office, the senators announced on the Friday before the holiday weekend that they had sent a letter to Roberts. It comes off as the senators asking Roberts to use what authority he has to speak for the Court to police Alito.
Early on in the letter, Durbin and Whitehouse wrote "we urge you to immediately take appropriate steps to ensure that Justice Alito will recuse himself in any cases related to the 2020 presidential election and January 6th attack on the Capitol, including the question of former President Trump’s immunity from prosecution for his role in the events of January 6th in Trump v. United States. We also renew our call for the Supreme Court to adopt an enforceable code of conduct for justices. And we request a meeting with you as soon as possible, in your capacity as Chief Justice and as presiding officer of the Judicial Conference of the United States, to discuss additional steps to address the Supreme Court’s ethics crisis."
Durbin has tried to appeal to Roberts before, with Roberts rebuffing Durbin's efforts to police the co-equal branch of government. When Durbin asked Roberts to appear before his Committee last year, the chief justice replied he would not comply with such an unusual request, effectively telling Durbin to stay in his lane.
Senate Democrats, particularly Durbin and Whitehouse, have had it out for conservative members on the Supreme Court for years. Every non-scandal reported by the liberal media has given the cause for all sorts of demands, from calls for such meetings, to recusals, to a push for their legislation on Supreme Court "ethics," as is mentioned in that letter, dated May 23.
It's not merely Alito who is a popular target. The letter includes three paragraphs to whine about past supposed indiscretions, and also goes after Justice Clarence Thomas.
"These displays at Justice Alito’s homes are not the only recent instances of a Supreme Court justice’s failure to avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety," the letter whines at one point. "Although together the Court and the Judicial Conference have the ability and responsibility to enforce ethics rules applicable to the justices, it remains unclear what actions—if any—the judiciary has taken in response to allegations and reporting on ethical misconduct by Supreme Court justices."
There's an entire paragraph devoted to complaints about Thomas and his wife, Ginni, specifically to do with the 2020 election. There's also mentions of reports about financial disclosures. Such reports came out last year from Pro Publica and have been heavily criticized.
The letter concludes in part by warning we can expect to hear more from Durbin and Whitehouse. "We therefore call for Justice Alito to recuse himself from certain proceedings as outlined above, renew our call for the Supreme Court to adopt an enforceable code of conduct forSupreme Court justices, and request a meeting with you as soon as possible. Until the Court and the Judicial Conference take meaningful action to address this ongoing ethical crisis, we will continue our efforts to enact legislation to resolve this crisis," the letter reads, before the senators close by writing "Thank you for your prompt attention to this important matter."
That accompanying press release also pushes for legislation. "The senators’ letter is the latest in a longstanding oversight effort by Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats to ensure transparency and accountability at the Supreme Court and in the federal judiciary. Durbin and Whitehouse have called for the passage of the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act, legislation that the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced last July," it explains.
The Article 3 Project's Mike Davis posted his concerns with the letter in a lengthy post from that same day. Davis was also formerly the chief counsel for nominations on the Senate Judiciary Committee and a law clerk for Justice Neil Gorsuch.
"Sheldon Whitehouse has outdone himself with his insane, unethical behavior," Davis writes after summarizing the demands from the letter, which is really saying something. He also adds that "Dick Durbin should be ashamed he went along with this."
Let's get this straight.
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) May 24, 2024
Two leading Senate Judiciary Democrats are sending an ex parte letter to a judge on pending cases before a court.
Then they leak their letter to one of their political allies.@SenWhitehouse and @SenatorDurbin didn't follow the normal procedures,… https://t.co/YBG0toLpBJ
Whitehouse has pushed the legislation while lambasting Alito and Thomas in other ways, including through numerous posts. One thread, his most recent as of early Sunday morning, is 10 posts long.
Such a thread comes after he's made other posts as well, including a video message. Another mentions Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and serves as a sort of warning of just how far Democrats can go if they hold control of the Senate and win back the House in November.
Another day, another reason to pass my SCERT Act. pic.twitter.com/TTyK1ZExkH
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) May 24, 2024
Raskin: “if and when we win back the House and the Senate and the White House we will look at the Supreme Court and figure out what can be done about that extremely corrupted and contaminated body.” Yes we will, brother. Yes we will.https://t.co/tqrffjtEnl
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) May 24, 2024
A press release from Durbin on May 22 highlighted the SCERT Act as well. The chairman even still tries to claim that it's not a matter of partisan politics and attacks on conservative justices. As a statement from Durbin mentioned, using lamentations we've all heard before:
“This incident is yet another example of apparent ethical misconduct by a sitting justice, and it adds to the Court’s ongoing ethical crisis. For the good of our country and the Court, Justice Alito must recuse himself immediately from cases related to the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection. And the Chief Justice must see how this is damaging the Court and immediately enact an enforceable code of conduct.
“This episode will further erode public faith in the Court. The Senate Judiciary Committee has been investigating the ethical crisis at the Court for more than a year, and that investigation continues. And we remain focused on ensuring the Supreme Court adopts an enforceable code of conduct, which we can do by passing the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act.”
The story is a shameful one, as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) highlighted when the story first came out earlier this month. The featured image of the article included pictures of the Alito's property so as to show the upside down American flag. We now also know that The Washington Post decided against covering the story about an incident that occurred over three years ago now in the case of the upside down American flag at the Alito's home.
The Washington Post reveals they actually already discovered in Jan 2021 the Alito flag story was fake and chose not report it after they determined it was part of a neighborhood dispute not rooted in politics. It's a good thing we didn't let this all get out of hand! pic.twitter.com/B5i5fBxCUT
— Philip Letsou (@philipletsou) May 25, 2024
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