Photo
by
Collection
of
the
Supreme
Court
of
the
United
States
via
Getty
Images
The
Supreme
Court,
man.
The
ethics
scandals
just
keep
piling
up.
Sure,
some
members
of
the
Court
are
*boldly* in
favor
of
an
enforceable
ethical
code
for
the
High
Court,
but
the
actual
code
adopted
late
last
year
contains
no
penalties
or
any
enforcement
mechanism.
Sigh.
The
SCOTUS
ethical
dilemma
du
jour
is
Justice
Samuel
Alito’s
penchant
for
flying
flags
favored
by
insurrectionists
—
and
his
refusal
to
recuse
himself
from
January
6th-related
cases.
Not
to
mention
getting
caught
on
tape
saying
he
was
fighting
“to
return
our
country
to
a
place
of
godliness.”
But
the
problem
is
so
much
deeper.
There’s
the
two
decades
of
luxury
gifts
—
$5.8
million worth
—
Justice
Clarence
Thomas
has
taken!
You’ll
recall
ProPublica
initially
released
an
article
detailing
the
two
decades
of
Justice
Thomas receiving
travel
and
other
gifts
from
billionaire
Harlan
Crow.
A
few
days
later,
we
got
more
details
of the
financial
entanglement
between
the
two
men as
it
was
revealed
Crow
bought
from
Thomas
three
pieces
of
property
—
including
one
Thomas’s
mother
lives
on
—
and
improved
it,
all
with
Thomas’s
mother
never
paying
rent.
Then
we
got
the
news Crow
paid
for
schooling for
the
family
member
Thomas
considers
like
a
son.
He
was
a
member
of
a fancy
rich
person
club,
and
had bunches
of
billionaire
friends that
lavished
him
with
pricey
gifts. Even
the
RV
Thomas
uses
to
establish
his
everyman
bona
fides
was
financed
by
a
rich
buddy,
via
a
“loan”
that
was
never
paid
back.
Then
there
was
the
questionable
Neil
Gorsuch
real
estate
deal.
The luxury
trips
taken
by
Alito
—
coordinated
by
the
Federalist
Society’s
Leonard
Leo
and
lodging
provided
by
GOP
donor
Robin
Arkley
II,
and
so
much
more.
Members of
Congress
have
been
working
out
what
their
branch of
government can
do
to
stop
the
free-falling
trust
in
the
Court.
Senate
Judiciary
Democrats
issued
subpoenas
when
asking
nicely
didn’t
work
—
not
that
those
have
been
particularly
successful.
Now
Reps.
Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez
(D-N.Y.)
and
Jamie
Raskin
(D-Md.)
say
they’re
planning
on
introducing
legislation
to
deal
with
the
Supreme
Court’s
ethics
problem.
As
Ocascio-Cortez
said,
“And
so,
it
is
not
a
question
…
of
if
Congress
has
jurisdiction
and
power
over
the
Supreme
Court.
It
is,
what
power
are
we
going
to
exercise
in
order
to
rein
in
a
fundamentally
unaccountable
and
rogue
court?”
As
Raskin
noted:
“It’s
the
highest
court
in
the
land
with
the
lowest
ethical
standards.
These
are
the
only
governmental
officials
in
the
land
who
are
not
governed
by
a
binding
ethics
code.
There’s
no
process
by
which
we
can
hold
any
of
them
accountable,”
Raskin
said.“And
so,
we
need
to
clean
that
up.
And
that’s
why
we
said
we’re
going
to
start
with
something
simple
that
the
whole
country
will
be
able
to
understand
immediately
and
intuitively,”
Raskin
said.
“We
want
a
$50
gift
ban
for
U.S.
Supreme
Court
justices.
They
make
$300,000
a
year.
Pay
for
your
own
lunch
and
pay
for
your
own
vacation.”
Of
course,
with
the
sharply
partisan
politics
of
2024
being
what
they
are,
any
effort
to
“rein
in”
the
Court
will
face
sharp
opposition.
Plus,
there’s
Alito’s
self-serving
take
on
separation
of
powers,
declaring
he’s
above
the
law,
saying,
“No
provision
in
the
Constitution
gives
[Congress]
the
authority
to
regulate
the
Supreme
Court—period.”
Now,
that’s
a
wrong
take,
but
Republicans
who
currently
enjoy
the
undemocratic
power
wielded
by
the
Court
will
latch
onto
it.
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter
@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon
@Kathryn1@mastodon.social.