Team,

I’ve been busy working to create accountability at the Supreme Court (I was recently described as “the mainspring” of that effort), and wanted to give you an update. A lot is going on.

You may have seen that the justices announced a code of ethics for themselves yesterday. It’s a first step, and one that is long overdue. However, there’s no enforcement mechanism to hold the justices accountable to the code — no way to file a complaint, no way to investigate a complaint, no way to recommend a remedy. It’s completely toothless.

So legislative progress must continue. My Supreme Court ethics bill, which includes an enforcement mechanism, is out of committee and awaits Floor action. We hope for a vote this year.

My Supreme Court term limits bill has been filed with eight original cosponsors. I’m working closely with Rep. Hank Johnson, House Democratic lead of the House Courts Subcommittee, who’s a wonderful ally.

Investigations are proceeding in two of my committees. Our Finance Committee investigation revealed that the rich donor who funded Justice Thomas' $267,000 RV purchase only received interest payments and apparently never required repayment of principal. That qualifies as income, and was not disclosed by Thomas as required.

The Judiciary Committee is re-scheduling a vote on subpoenas to pursue our investigation into how billionaires like Harlan Crow made big secret gifts to Justices Thomas and Alito, directly and through corporate entities. The billionaires who have refused to cooperate say that it is unconstitutional for Congress to oversee how laws that Congress passed (existing judicial disclosure and recusal obligations are laws Congress passed) are implemented by an agency Congress created (the Judicial Conference is an agency Congress created). That is obvious nonsense.

At the same time I’ve pressed numerous issues forward before the Judicial Conference and had two big wins. One was eliminating the “Scalia Trick” of pretending that a “personal” invitation to a resort, from someone you don’t know, amounts to “personal hospitality” that needn’t be disclosed. The Conference closed that loophole at my urging. The other progress was the recently announced proposed reform of disclosure requirements for front groups that come to the Supreme Court as amici curiae, or “friends of the court,” and hide who’s really behind them. I hope the new rule will stop dark-money evasions and mischief, and gave the Conference some advice.

Still in progress is the Judicial Conference investigation of the recent Crow-to-Thomas gifts of free secret jet and yacht trips. It’s their second round of inquiry into Crow-to-Thomas free secret jet and yacht trips, so they may be losing their patience. If the Conference finds that the non-disclosure might have been “willful,” the law requires a referral to the Attorney General for the willfulness determination. (Several months back I held a hearing with the federal judge who was on the Judicial Conference when those questions were first considered.)

I’ve also asked for investigation of the bizarre Justice Alito “interview” on the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page. That unusual opinion piece was written by Leonard Leo’s lawyer, who is trying to thwart the Judiciary Committee’s investigation. In the piece, Justice Alito offered a supporting opinion to prop up Leo’s case — wrong on so many levels. It shows how anxious the Federalist Society justices are about our investigations that Alito resorted to that stunt.

The traditional reticence of the Judicial Conference is yielding to frustration at the justices’ inexcusable conduct and unsupportable excuses, so more progress is possible. The Judicial Conference is made up of chief judges who know the ethics rules and procedures well, so they are not easily fooled. Indeed, a real ethics procedure for Supreme Court justices is not out of the question from the Court; four justices have now said they need one.

Of course, I continue to keep public pressure on this issue. It helps to discredit the arguments behind the billionaires’ opposition to our investigation. And it helps to explain that these ethics scandals are related to the larger Scheme to Capture the Court, which began with picking the justices, continued with campaigns for their confirmation, extends to the flotillas of front group “friends of the court,” and ends with “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” secret freebies — all of it the coordinated project of a few creepy right-wing billionaires and their ubiquitous functionary, Leonard Leo. Wish me luck! And if you can, please support my campaign so I can win next year and keep up this long fight.

- Sheldon

 

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