Dems start Round One in Supreme Court ethics ‘boxing match’ – By Katherine Tully-McManus & Burgess Everett (Politico) / July 19, 2023
Judiciary Democrats will vote on Thursday to create new guardrails for the justices. Their plan is likely to stall — but becoming law isn’t the point.
Senate Democrats want to keep conservative Supreme Court justices’ ties to GOP donors — and its rightward bent overall — in the public spotlight.
The Judiciary Committee will advance legislation Thursday that would impose an ethics code on the nation’s highest court for the first time in history. It’s one of Congress’ biggest moves so far in response to a nationwide debate about judicial impropriety that’s captured outsized attention this summer.
The Democratic proposal won’t become law anytime soon. But when it comes to influencing Washington’s judicial wars, that’s not the point.
Top Democrats’ decision to push ahead on the bill during the high court’s off-season is designed to keep reminding voters about the conservative court’s more polarizing recent opinions, from last year’s reversal of Roe v. Wade to a more recent limit on LGBTQ protections. That’s not to mention reporting on ethical entanglements by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito that has commanded the attention of the party’s liberal base.
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