Durbin: Chief Justice Roberts Should Strengthen Supreme Court Ethics Standards Before The Court's Summer Recess

Floor Speech

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"Most recently, ProPublica found that in June 2019, right after the Court issued its final opinion of that term, Justice Clarence Thomas boarded a private jet to Indonesia. Then the Justice and his wife spent nine days island-hopping through the South Pacific on a 162-foot yacht. ProPublica estimated the cost of chartering this plane and yacht at more than half a million dollars. But Justice Thomas did not pay for it. The travel and trip were provided by billionaire real estate developer Harlan Crow and by several corporate entities in Crow's business empire. This is just one example of the largesse provided to Justice Thomas by Mr. Crow and his businesses… Justice Thomas did not disclose any of these gifts, or travel, or lodging, or other benefits.

Now let me say at the outset: Justice Thomas is not the only Supreme Court Justice, past or present, who has accepted gifts or free travel and failed to disclose them in a timely manner. But the scope and scale of the undisclosed gifts Justice Thomas has accepted go far beyond anything else we have seen. And this highlights the enormous gaps in the ethical standards for Supreme Court Justices.

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In February of 2012, 11 years ago, I first wrote to Chief Justice Roberts and urged him to adopt a code of ethics, ethical conduct, to bind the Justices--just like the code that binds every other federal judge in America. Chief Justice Roberts failed to act when I wrote him 11 years ago. Since then, the Court's ethics problems have gotten worse… I invited him, personally, to testify at a hearing before our Senate Judiciary Committee so he could speak directly to the American people. How many times does a Supreme Court Justice come across the street and formally appear before Congress? It turns out, 92 different times since the year 1960. This would have been an opportunity for the Chief Justice to reassure the American people and start to restore trust in the high court… Trust in the Court has fallen to the lowest point in 50 years.

The Chief Justice has the ability--right now--to impose higher ethical standards on the Justices--standards that would be transparent and enforceable. He could take action today. But so far, he has declined that opportunity. And if he won't act, Congress must. We cannot tolerate a system in which the highest court in America has the lowest ethical standards in the federal government. And we certainly should not begin another Supreme Court summer recess in which Justices can accept free trips and travel under an inadequate set of ethics rules.

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The Senate Judiciary Committee has a responsibility to exercise oversight over the federal judiciary. We take it seriously. We have held two ethics reform hearings so far this year, and soon we will consider legislation to restore trust in the High Court. When billionaires and other people with interests before the Court try to ingratiate themselves with Justices through gifts and luxury getaways, and when they can obtain special, private access to the Justices for themselves and others, it's a serious problem.

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If Mr. Crow is convinced he has done nothing wrong, then what does he have to hide? Senator Whitehouse, the Chair of the Federal Courts Subcommittee, and I responded to Mr. Crow last week and informed him he has until next Monday, June 5 to provide the information we requested. As I mentioned, we will soon be considering legislation in Committee and his information could be helpful in our legislative effort.

Let me close by reiterating that Chief Justice Roberts does not have to wait for Mr. Crow or Congress. He can clean up this mess today by adopting a resolution binding the Justices to higher ethical standards… Chief Justice Roberts has known for more than ten years that this is a problem and that this is within his authority… If the Chief Justice and the Court do not act, we will."

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