If Justice Sonia Sotomayor's Republicans critics have concerns about her new ethics flap, stevebenen writes that they might want to consider a pending Supreme Court ethics bill.
have confronted rather serious ethics questions in recent months, the typical response from congressional Republicans has been total indifference. It’s unfortunate, of course, but GOP lawmakers are aligned with the far-right jurists ideologically, so they’re perfectly content to shrug their shoulders in response to legitimate controversies.
Sotomayor’s staff has often prodded public institutions that have hosted the justice to buy her memoir or children’s books, works that have earned her at least $3.7 million since she joined the court in 2009. Details of those events, largely out of public view, were obtained by The Associated Press through more than 100 open records requests to public institutions.
To be sure, as judicial scandals go, “prodding” from a justice’s staff isn’t nearly as dramatic as Thomas’to the AP, the Supreme Court said it works with the justices and their staff to ensure they are “complying with judicial ethics guidance for such visits.” “When is invited to participate in a book program, Chambers staff recommends the number of books based on the size of the audience so as not to disappoint attendees who may anticipate books being available at an event,” the court said.But for those eager to overhaul the Supreme Court’s approach to ethics — and those who lament the lack of a judicial code of conduct that applies to sitting justices — the Sotomayor angle could create a new opportunity for bipartisan policymaking.
“Whether you agree or disagree with the most recent historic decisions by the Supreme Court, we hope we can all agree on one thing — these nine justices have extraordinary powers under our Constitution,” Whitehouse and Durbin said in a joint statement. “The belief that they should not be held accountable or even disclose lavish gifts from wealthy benefactors is an affront to the nation they were chosen to serve.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor's staff prodded colleges and libraries to buy her booksFor colleges and libraries seeking boldfaced names for their guest lecture roster, few come bigger than Sonia Sotomayor. But the U.S. Supreme Court justice often stood to benefit too — from their purchase of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of her books.
Read more »
Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor’s staff prodded colleges and libraries to buy her booksDocuments obtained by the Associated Press reveal repeated examples of Sotomayor's taxpayer-funded court staff performing tasks for the justice’s book ventures, which workers in other branches of government are barred from doing.
Read more »
Op-ed: Supreme Court justice's stat about Black infant mortality demands scrutinyCommentary: To let such an accusation stand unchallenged does a profound disservice to doctors and their patients, who have difficulty today knowing what’s true and what isn’t.
Read more »
Clarence Thomas Is Literally In a Club Full of Exorbitantly Wealthy ConservativesClarence Thomas has reportedly been gifted “vacation retreats”, V.I.P. access to sporting events, and invitations to “lavish parties” thanks to his membership in the Horatio Alger Association.
Read more »
Up Close: Impact of Supreme Court rulings; shark concerns spikeUp Close: Mike Marza fills in for Bill Ritter to tackle the impact of the recent landmark Supreme Court rulings.
Read more »
Congress returns to confront must-pass defense bill, Supreme Court ethics and nomination headachesCongress returns from its Fourth of July recess this week with growing objections on the left and right to President Joe Biden’s military policies and a looming fight in the Senate over ethics standards for the Supreme Court.
Read more »