Justice Samuel Alito of the Supreme Court has retaliated against Democrats in Congress who want to pass legislation to rein in the court.
He spoke to The Wall Street Journal a few weeks after Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, presented the bill to the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 20.
The Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act (SCERT) of 2023, which Republicans claim is unconstitutional, was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is run by Democrats.
The proposal would need to pass the Republican-controlled House before reaching President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law. It is unknown whether or when the legislation would receive a vote from the entire Senate, and even if it did, it is unlikely to pass.
The measure would oblige the Supreme Court to establish and implement its own code of ethics, which would require the Justices to be required to withdraw themselves from certain cases—a decision they presently make independently.
Additionally, it would require the Justices to report their income, gifts, and paid trips.
If the law is approved, the public would be able to register complaints against specific justices, which would then be arbitrated by a panel of five judges from lower courts.
Any citizen would be able to submit a motion to have a Justice dismissed from a case.
The Supreme Court is “the only court in the country, perhaps the only court in the world, with no ethics process at all,” Democrat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said at a committee hearing on July 20 when he introduced the legislation.
“Then came the news that six politically active right wing-billionaires have been paying household expenses, engaging in financial transactions, and providing massive secret gifts of travel and hospitality for at least two justices,” the senator said.
“We are here because the highest court in the land has the lowest standard of ethics anywhere in the federal government. And justices have exhibited much improper behavior, not least in hapless efforts to excuse the misdeeds,” he said.
Justice Alito responded in his interview with The Journal to the court’s detractors and to the notion that Congress could or ought to exercise oversight.
“Congress did not create the Supreme Court”—the Constitution did, the Justice said.
“I know this is a controversial view, but I’m willing to say it,” he said. “No provision in the Constitution gives them the authority to regulate the Supreme Court—period.”
He was making reference to the Constitution’s Article III, Section 1, which states: “The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.”
Republicans have claimed that the clause provides Congress the power to control lesser courts and even to abolish them, but that the Supreme Court is exempt from this power.
And the only branch that would arbitrate a dispute over this would be the judicial branch, which would ultimately result in the Supreme Court making the decision.
“I don’t know that any of my colleagues have spoken about it publicly, so I don’t think I should say. But I think it is something we have all thought about,” he said.
“I marvel at all the nonsense that has been written about me in the last year,” the Justice said.
“The traditional idea about how judges and justices should behave is that they should be mute” while facing political criticism, and that others, especially “the organized bar,” should stand up for them.
“But that’s just not happening. And so at a certain point I’ve said to myself, nobody else is going to do this, so I have to defend myself,” he said.
The post Justice Alito Tells Dems To Go To H*ll With Epic Truth Bomb appeared first on The Republic Brief.
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