ICYMI: Durbin, Whitehouse Sent Follow Up Letter To Harlan Crow Seeking Full Information On Gifts, Travel, And Access Given To Supreme Court Justices

Letter

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"This letter follows up on the Senate Judiciary Committee's May 8, 2023, request for information in your possession that is highly relevant to the Committee's ongoing efforts to craft judicial ethics reform legislation. Investigative reporting has exposed serious shortcomings in the ethical standards that apply to Supreme Court justices and has highlighted ethical lapses by justices that the American people would not tolerate from any public servant, let alone a justice on the nation's highest Court. Chief Justice Roberts could take action today to help restore trust in the Court by adopting binding ethics reforms, including a credible, transparent, and enforceable code of conduct for the justices. However, he has repeatedly declined to do so, and in the face of this lack of accountability, public confidence in the Court continues to plummet. Consequently, Congress must act to ensure the highest Court in the land does not continue to have the lowest ethical standards.

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In your letter dated May 22, 2023, you declined to provide the information the Committee requested to inform its legislative efforts in these areas. Your explanation rested on a flawed assessment of Congress's Article I oversight authority; a cramped reading of Congress's constitutional authority to legislate in the area of government ethics; and a wholly misplaced view of the separation of powers, a doctrine that is implicated when Congress requests information from coordinate branches of government, not private individuals. You also repeatedly conflated personal hospitality with the use of corporate-owned property, which highlights one of the key issues the Committee seeks to address through legislation. We respond below to your contentions, and request that you provide the information sought in our May 8 letter no later than June 5, 2023."

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