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Graphic featuring protesters behind the scales of justice, reading ''The Rush: Bolder Action Now: Fill Every Seat'' [[link removed]]

This week, the ethical scandals around Justice Clarence Thomas and the Roberts Supreme Court deepened and the Chief Justice doubled down, refusing to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee and rejecting calls for the Court to self-regulate. Most recently, ProPublica exposed that billionaire Harlan Crow c [[link removed]] overed the tuition costs [[link removed]] to send Thomas’s grandnephew, Mark Martin, to elite private schools on top of footing the bill for luxury family vacations. Justice Thomas was Martin’s legal guardian and had been raising the then-teenager “as a son,” but it was Crow who was paying tens of thousands of dollars a year for his education.

In response to the flood of disclosure violations and ethical infractions mounting at the nation’s highest court, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Supreme Court ethics reform Tuesday. Ahead of the hearing, Alliance for Justice co-hosted a press conference with partner organizations and senators [[link removed]] to call for Supreme Court ethics reform. AFJ President Rakim Brooks made it clear that Justice Thomas must resign and our Supreme Court justices must be held accountable [[link removed]] under a binding code of ethics—just like every other federal judge in America. Also before the hearing, and running throughout this week, AFJ launched a five-figure ad buy in the Washington Post with a video [[link removed]] and banner ads highlighting the need for Justice Thomas to resign.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Senators heard testimony from ethics scholars and experts, including two former federal judges, but not a single Supreme Court justice. Despite Chair Durbin’s request that Chief Justice Roberts testify or send another justice in his place, the Supreme Court chose not to engage in this critical discussion. Supreme Court justices are not above the law and at the bare minimum they must be held to the same ethical standards as other federal judges and government officials.

For more on the urgent need for judicial ethics reform at our highest court, read AFJ Senior Aron Justice Counsel Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza's new piece [[link removed]] outlining solutions to corruption within the Supreme Court.

“By failing to self-regulate, Chief Justice Roberts and his conservative ilk have taken advantage of the trust the Framers and later Congress placed in the Supreme Court,” Rebecca writes.

The Good News
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Early this week, Majority Leader Schumer emphasized the need to focus on confirming judges. On Monday, the Senate confirmed Anthony Johnstone to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. His confirmation was followed by those of Robert Kirsch (D. N.J.), Michael Farbiarz (D. N.J.), LaShonda Hunt (N.D. Ill.), Wesley Hsu (C.D. Cal.), Amanda Brailsford (D. Idaho), and Orelia Merchant (E.D. N.Y.).
On Wednesday, the White House named [[link removed]] four new district court nominees, including Judge Loren L. AliKhan (D. D.C.) and Susan K. DeClercq (E.D. Mich.). Judge AliKhan, a daughter of Pakistani immigrants, has served as Solicitor General for the District of Columbia and is currently a judge for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. When confirmed, she will be the first South Asian woman to serve on the United District Court for the District of Columbia. Susan K. DeClercq will be the first judge of East Asian descent in the District of Michigan upon her confirmation. She previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, where she held several leadership roles, including Chief of the Civil Rights Unit.

What's Next

We expect the Senate Judiciary Committee to resume their nominations hearings later this month. With nearly 100 vacancies left to be filled by the end of 2024, there is no time to waste! That is why AFJ is calling on Chair Durbin to reform or eliminate the blue slip [[link removed]] . The Senate must adopt a greater sense of urgency when it comes to confirming historically diverse nominees to balance the bench.

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