Eleven members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Chairman Dick Durbin, have requested that Harlan Crow, a Republican donor and real estate magnate, provide an itemized list of gifts and real estate transactions given to Supreme Court justices or their family members. The committee has requested that Crow provide the requested information by May 22, 2023 and has not yet received a response. This is part of the committee’s ongoing efforts to craft legislation strengthening the ethical rules and standards that apply to the Supreme Court.
Posts tagged as “the Supreme Court”
The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked the execution of Richard Glossip, who was convicted of murder-for-hire in 1997 based on the testimony of a single witness. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has since released evidence indicating the witness was not entirely truthful, leading to reasonable doubt of Glossip's guilt. Despite this, Glossip was still scheduled to be put to death on May 18, leading to public outcry from his supporters and celebrities. The Supreme Court's decision is a temporary reprieve, and it is possible that Oklahoma could still seek to execute Glossip in the future.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has called for the Supreme Court and Chief Justice John Roberts to adopt a binding code of conduct in response to a ProPublica story that revealed Dallas real estate billionaire Harlan Crow had paid tuition for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ grandnephew. Durbin argued that the revelations demonstrate the need for a binding code of conduct, and his call for action has been echoed by other lawmakers. The Supreme Court currently has a code of conduct, but it is not binding.
The Arizona Supreme Court has fined attorneys for Kari Lake, the 2022 Republican candidate for governor, for making false claims about the November election. The court ordered the attorneys to pay $2,000 for repeating "unequivocally false" statements in court, which Chief Justice Robert Brutinel said undermined the integrity of the electoral process. Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) welcomed the ruling as a reminder that false claims about elections will not be tolerated.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepted private school tuition payments from conservative GOP megadonor Harlan Crow for his teenage grandnephew, Mark Martin, according to a new report from ProPublica. The total amount that Crow paid for Martin’s tuition over the years is unclear, but the news of Justice Thomas’ undisclosed gifts has raised questions about whether the payments were appropriate and if they violated the Code of Conduct for United States Judges. This has sparked a debate about the ethics of accepting gifts from those with a direct interest in a case before the court.
This article discusses the upcoming Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the need for an ethics code of conduct for the Supreme Court. The hearing follows revelations that Justice Clarence Thomas had received lavish gifts from a conservative donor, and is being chaired by Senator Dick Durbin. It is expected to be closely watched, as it could have a major impact on the future of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could potentially overturn a nearly 40-year-old precedent, which could have far-reaching implications for how federal agencies interpret and enforce laws. The case involves a dispute between the Biden administration and commercial fishing companies and has been seen as part of a larger effort by conservative groups and business interests to challenge the federal bureaucracy. The outcome of the case remains uncertain, and the implications of the court’s decision will be closely watched by both supporters and opponents of the “war on the administrative state.”
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has revealed that he has a "pretty good idea" of who was responsible for the leak of his unpublished draft opinion last year, which indicated that the Supreme Court was poised to roll back abortion rights. Alito does not have the proof needed to name the leaker, and the incident has not been officially investigated. The opinion stated that "Roe and Casey must be overruled" and that "the Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision."