Top Democratic senators, both of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, are trying to meet with Chief Justice John Roberts over recent reports of controversial flags displayed at Justice Samuel Alito’s homes.
Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) demanded a meeting with Roberts “as soon as possible” to talk about the Supreme Court’s “ethical crisis” and urged the chief justice to “ensure ” that Alito refuses to participate in all cases related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
“We also renew our call for the Supreme Court to adopt an enforceable code of conduct for judges,” the senators wrote in a statement. Letter released on Friday. “And we request a meeting with you as soon as possible, in your capacity as Chief Justice and President of the Judicial Conference of the United States, to discuss additional steps to resolve the Supreme Court’s ethical crisis.”
The call for a meeting came after The New York Times reported Last week, an inverted U.S. flag associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement was raised at Alito’s home in Alexandria, Virginia. The revelation caused a reaction from many Democrats in Congress and even some Republicans. The times reported this week, Alito’s beach house flew an “Appeal to Heaven” flag — a flag adopted by the Jan. 6 protesters even though it was designed during the Revolutionary War.
After the first report, Durbin asked Alito to recuse himself from all cases related to January 6th. Following The Times’ latest report, Democrats in the Senate stated that the nation’s highest court is “out of control” and is promoting a “partisan” agenda.
“These displays at Justice Alito’s homes are not the only recent instances of a Supreme Court justice’s failure to avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety,” they said in the letter.
“Although together the Court and the Judicial Conference have the ability and responsibility to enforce the ethics rules applicable to judges, it remains unclear what actions – if any – the judicial branch has taken in response to the allegations and complaints of ethical misconduct on the part of Supreme Court judges. ”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
