[Politics] Senate asks supreme court chief justice to testify on ethics amid Clarence Thomas revelations

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Senate invites supreme court chief justice to testify on ethics

The Democratic chair of the Senate judiciary committee has asked chief justice John Roberts to testify on 2 May about the court’s ethics, following revelations of undisclosed links between a Republican megadonor and conservative justice Clarence Thomas.

 

In a letter to Roberts, judiciary committee chair Richard Durbin did not mention those reports about Thomas specifically, but noted that since he last addressed the court’s ethics in 2011 “there has been a steady stream of revelations regarding Justices falling short of the ethical standards expected of other federal judges and, indeed, of public servants generally. These problems were already apparent back in 2011, and the Court’s decade-long failure to address them has contributed to a crisis of public confidence. The status quo is no longer tenable.”

 

Durbin said the hearing would focus on “the ethical rules that govern the Justices of the Supreme Court and potential reforms to those rules,” while noting that the “scope of your testimony can be limited to these subjects, and that you would not be expected to answer questions from Senators regarding any other matters.”

Closing summary

The Democratic chair of the Senate judiciary committee has asked supreme court chief justice John Roberts to testify early next month about the panel’s approach to ethics. The request comes after a series of articles published by ProPublica raised questions about conservative justice Clarence Thomas’s ties to Republican megadonor Harlan Crow. Roberts has not responded yet, and the judiciary chair Richard Durbin says he’s not looking to compel his testimony with a subpoena.

 

Here’s what else happened today:

 

The debt limit battle has officially started. Latest development: one Democratic senator thinks Joe Biden should negotiate with House speaker Kevin McCarthy.

 

House Republicans pushed through a measure to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports at schools and universities, a bill that will meet its doom in the Senate.

 

A top Donald Trump adviser was scheduled to be interviewed by the special counsel investigating the former president’s involvement in the January 6 insurrection and possession of classified documents.

 

Trump’s comments about abortion being left to the states displeased an influential group opposed to the procedure.

Mike Lindell, a noted conspiracy theorist and pillow magnate, appears to be on the hook for $5mn to a software expert who took him up on his challenge to debunk data Lindell claimed proved fraud in the 2020 election.

 

[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2023/apr/20/debt-ceiling-biden-trump-classified-documents-politics-live-updates]