“Without immediate reform… public trust in one of our core American institutions will continue to plummet”

WASHINGTON, DC – Following a pattern of serious Supreme Court ethics issues, the Senate Judiciary Committee will today hold a hearing on Supreme Court ethics reform. The hearing will proceed without the participation of Chief Justice Roberts, who refused an invitation to testify from Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin. Ahead of the hearing, Accountable.US president Kyle Herrig released the following statement:

The string of recent Supreme Court scandals has revealed just how fundamentally broken our Court is. But even as the need for urgent reform has become clear, Chief Justice Roberts has refused to act, dodging his own responsibility and forcing Congress to step in. Our nation’s highest court should not have the lowest ethical standards — and today’s hearing is a critical step forward in raising those standards to match the high position the Court occupies. Without immediate reform to restore credibility and integrity to our Court, public trust in one of our core American institutions will continue to plummet.”

Scrutiny around the Supreme Court increased following bombshell news last month from ProPublica revealing decades-worth of undisclosed luxury travel and gifts from billionaire Republican megadonor Harlan Crow to Justice Clarence Thomas. The pattern of Supreme Court scandal deepened with last week’s news of Justice Gorsuch selling property to the CEO of a major Supreme Court-involved law firm, followed by revelations finding that Chief Justice Roberts’ wife made millions from elite law firms and a deep-dive into Scalia Law School’s cozy relationships with conservative Justices.

Over the weekend, an Accountable.US mobile billboard demanded accountability from Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts for his refusal to take action. Accountable.US has repeatedly called for action in the aftermath of the unprecedented ethics issues undermining the integrity of our nation’s highest court.

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