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Senate Democrats press Roberts on Alito recusals
Senate Democrats press Roberts on Alito recusals
Ten Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, led by chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), implored Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in a letter Thursday to ensure Justice Samuel Alito will rec…
thehill.com
Ten Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, led by chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), implored Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in a letter Thursday to ensure Justice Samuel Alito will recuse himself from future cases pertaining to legislation regulating the high court.
The senators’ request hinged on an interview Alito gave to the Wall Street Journal last week, where he opined that the U.S. Constitution does not give Congress the authority to regulate the Court, “period.”
“Congress did not create the Supreme Court,” Alito said of efforts to legislate ethics regulations. “I know this is a controversial view, but I’m willing to say it.”
The Democratic senators — all of the Judiciary Committee’s majority members except Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) — rebuffed Alito’s perspective as “plainly incorrect” and raised concern that he “publicly prejudged” the issues, which could land before the Court.
They referred back to testimony Alito gave during his 2006 confirmation hearing, where he said he “wouldn’t want to prejudge any constitutional question that might be presented to me.”
“And yet, we now have Justice Alito publicly remarking on the constitutionality of pending legislation — comments that unquestionably engender doubt that he could fairly discharge his duties should this question come before the Court,” the senators wrote.
The request for Roberts to take “appropriate steps” to ensure Alito recuses himself on any cases related to Court regulation comes amid increased scrutiny of the Supreme Court justices’ ethics.
~Snip~
In February, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) introduced the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act, which would require justices to adopt a code of conduct and create a transparent process for the public to submit ethics complaints.
The bill advanced last month after a markup session of more than three hours. Every Democratic member of the committee voted for the reforms, while every Republican voted against them.
“The Court is mired in an ethical crisis of its own making, yet its only response has been a weak statement on ethics that Justice Alito has apparently ignored,” the senators wrote to Roberts on Thursday.
Commentary:
``There was a time when liberal Democrats in the U.S. Senate welcomed and defended political speech of all kinds, whether it was for or against them. The late Sen. Hubert Humphrey, for example, once declared that, “Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.” Were he alive today, Humphrey would be ashamed to see what’s become of his successors.``
(Democrats Seek to Stifle Political Speech, SCOTUS Be Damned!)
Were Humphrey alive today he would be shunned, persecuted and belittled as a conservative by today`s 21st Century Maoist/DSA Democrats.
One wonders what part of Co-Equal branches of government Democrats don’t understand.
Wile Democrats question the abilities, ethics and authority of Conservative SCOTUS judges,
shouldn`t Republicans be demanding recusals of Kagan, Jackson and Sotomayor based on things they’ve said publicly regarding issues coming before the courts.
