Press Releases
Nothing But Crickets from Chief Justice Roberts
Roberts silent since admitting more can be done on SCOTUS ethics
WASHINGTON, DC – It’s been over a week since Chief Justice Roberts admitted to a private crowd that more can be done to address the growing Supreme Court corruption crisis — but it’s been nothing but crickets from him since.
After last week’s remarks, Roberts refused to elaborate and made no promises to clean up his Court. He hasn’t followed up, even as new reporting this week revealed Justice Samuel Alito recently violated the weak ethics rules Roberts insisted the Court already adheres to.
Chief Justice Roberts sat back and watched while the Supreme Court corruption crisis reached a fever pitch, causing public trust in his Court to plummet. He may have admitted more can be done, but he hasn’t taken a single action to make that reality. Roberts himself has the power to change the ethics standards of our nation’s highest Court, but so far, he hasn’t shown the courage. Instead of dodging responsibility, the Chief Justice should clean up his Court.”
Accountable.US president Kyle Herrig.
Last weekend, the New York Times Editorial Board highlighted the Supreme Court corruption crisis, writing: “…public approval of the court is at a historic low. This was true even before the seemingly endless stream of reports over the past several weeks about the justices’ lax ethics. Since a conservative supermajority took control of the court in 2020, it has blown through the guardrails courts are expected to observe — showing little respect for longstanding precedent, reaching out to decide bigger questions than it was asked to and relying on a secretive “shadow docket” to make hugely consequential rulings with no public explanation…A court that thus wields an astonishing degree of power over the daily lives of hundreds of millions of Americans has also walled itself off from outside scrutiny, operating like an ecclesiastical city-state in the heart of the American republic.”
And the head of that “ecclesiastical city-state” is John Roberts, who as Chief Justice has assumed massive responsibility to ensure the Court is operating ethically — but has ducked and dodged at every turn.
Accountable.US has continuously called for Chief Justice Roberts to be held accountable for his inaction regarding the corruption plaguing his Court. Last month, Accountable.US launched a mobile billboard campaign near the Capitol Building and around Roberts’ Chevy Chase country club which displayed messages reading “Chief Justice Roberts: The Face of a Court in Crisis,” and “Chief Justice Roberts: Clean Up Your Court,” as well as headlines highlighting Roberts’ inaction.
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