On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) criticized Chief Justice John Roberts for not doing more to monitor fellow judges’ ethics and for dismissing Democratic proposals to limit forum shopping in the lower courts.
“Justice Roberts, in my judgment, has failed to fulfill his responsibilities as chief justice on numerous occasions. He’s obligated to protect the court’s fairness and viewpoint.”
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Schumer said the chief justice has failed “on something near and dear to me, which is forum shopping” as well as “ethics and recusal.”
“So Sen. Durbin, I, and the Judiciary Committee are discussing the best ways to move forward,” Schumer stated, referring to Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
Durbin told The Hill last month that a Senate vote on Supreme Court ethics legislation must take place this year, following The New York Times’ report that conservative Justice Samuel Alito displayed two flags, an upside-down American flag and a “Appeal to Heaven” flag, both associated with the Jan. 6 protest movement, at his properties.
“That is a must,” he remarked. “It should be called.” We should at the very least develop ethical and recusal standards.”
Durbin and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have introduced the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act, which would force the Supreme Court to adopt a code of conduct and establish a process to examine suspected violations of the code and other laws.
The law would also compel full disclosure and transparency when a justice has a link to a party involved in a case before the court, as well as explanations of recusal decisions to the public.
He declared on Thursday that this year should see the introduction of Supreme Court ethics measures in response to the second Alito-related flag incident.
Schumer has also spoken out several times against right-wing activists who have utilized judge shopping to challenge gun safety and the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone, a progesterone blocker used to stop pregnancies.
Speaking on the Senate floor last month, Schumer stated that “extremists” had slowed the implementation of background check changes “by taking their case to their favorite judge in the country in the Northern District of Texas to rubber-stamp a nationwide injunction.”
Schumer has joined Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) in sponsoring the End Judge Shopping Act, which would mandate random assignments for cases needing sweeping injunctions so that litigants would not continue to go to the same sympathetic judges to obtain favorable rulings.
“Former President Trump and Leader McConnell stacked the courts with MAGA judges who are striking down laws, freedoms, and regulations right and left,” Schumer said in April, referring to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. “And now right-wing activists are exploiting the current makeup of the judicial system to circumvent the legislative process.”
Last month, McConnell urged Senate Democrats to cease criticizing the Supreme Court after they demanded that Alito recuse himself from Trump-related matters for hanging a flag that has become a symbol of the “Stop the Steal” movement at his Virginia home.
“We need to leave the Supreme Court alone and protect them from people who went into their neighborhoods and tried to do them harm,” he stated.
