Schumer: Roberts ‘failed to fulfill his responsibility’ as chief justice

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) attacked Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday for not doing more to police the ethics of fellow justices and for ignoring Democratic calls to crack down on purchase of forums between the lower courts.

“Judge Roberts, in my opinion, failed to fulfill his responsibility as chief justice on issue after issue. He should be the guardian of justice and the opinion of the court.”

Schumer said the chief justice failed “on something near and dear to me, which is forum seeking,” as well as “ethics and refusal.”

“So Senator Durbin, I and the Judiciary Committee are discussing the best ways forward,” Schumer announced, referring to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).

Durbin told The Hill last month that a Senate vote on Supreme Court ethics legislation is expected this year, after The New York Times reported that conservative Justice Samuel Alito displayed two flags, an American flag upside down. low and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag. both associated with the January 6th protest movement, on their properties.

“This is mandatory,” he said. “It should be called. We should at least establish an ethical standard and a standard of refusal.”

Durbin and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D.R.I.) sponsored the Supreme Court Ethics, Revocation, and Transparency Act, which would require the Supreme Court to adopt a code of conduct and create a mechanism to investigate alleged violations of the code of conduct and other laws.

The bill would also require full disclosure and transparency when a judge has a connection with a party with business before the court and would explain his or her recusal decisions to the public.

He said Thursday that the second Alito-related flag incident demands a congressional response and insisted that Supreme Court ethics legislation should reach the Senate floor this year.

Schumer has also repeatedly spoken out against conservative activists who have used judge buyouts to challenge gun safety and the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone, a progesterone blocker used to terminate pregnancies.

Speaking on the Senate floor last month, Schumer said “extremists” had stalled implementation of background check reforms “by taking their case to their favorite judge in the country, in the Northern District of Texas, to rubber-stamp a level injunction.” national”.

Schumer joined Senators Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) to sponsor the End Judge Shopping Act, which would require random assignments for cases involving broad injunctions so that litigants don’t keep going to the same ones sympathetic judges to obtain favorable decisions.

“Former President Trump and Leader McConnell have packed the courts with MAGA judges who are striking down laws, freedoms and regulations left and right,” Schumer said in April, referring to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky. .). “And now right-wing activists are exploiting the current composition of the judicial system to bypass the legislative process.”

McConnell last month called on Senate Democrats to stop attacking the Supreme Court after demanding that Alito recuse himself from Trump-related cases for displaying a flag that has become a symbol of the “Stop the Steal” movement at his home in Washington. Virginia.

“We need to leave the Supreme Court alone, protect them from the people who came into their neighborhoods and tried to harm them,” he said.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story