By John Kruzel
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Senate panel on Thursday was set to debate and vote on Democratic-backed legislation that would mandate a binding ethics code for the U.S. Supreme Court following revelations that some conservative justices have failed to disclose luxury trips and real estate transactions.
The measure, however, faces Republican opposition that may doom its chances even if it is approved by the Judiciary Committee at its session due to start at 9:30 a.m. (1330 GMT).
Introduced by Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, the bill would impose on the top U.S. judicial body new requirements for financial disclosures and for recusal from cases in which a justice may have a conflict of interest. It would require the justices to adopt a code of conduct as well as create a mechanism to investigate alleged violations.
Unlike other members of the federal judiciary, the Supreme Court’s nine life-tenured justices have no binding ethics code of conduct. They are subject, as many high-level federal officials are, to disclosure laws requiring them to report outside income and certain gifts, though food and other “personal hospitality” such as lodging at an individual’s residence is generally exempted.
Justices also decide for themselves whether to step aside from cases involving a possible conflict of interest.
The legislation would face long odds to win passage on the Senate floor, where it would need some Republican support to advance. And it appears to have little chance to get through the Republican-led House of Representatives.
The news outlet ProPublica has detailed ties spanning decades between conservative Justice Clarence Thomas and billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow, including real estate purchases and luxury travel paid for by the Dallas businessman. ProPublica also has reported that conservative Justice Samuel Alito failed to disclose a private flight to Alaska provided by a billionaire hedge fund manager whose business interests have come before the court as the jurist took a luxury fishing trip.
Separately, the news outlet Politico has reported that conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch failed to disclose that the buyer of a Colorado property in which he had a stake was the chief executive of a major law firm whose attorneys have been involved in various Supreme Court cases.
Democratic senators have said these reports show that the court cannot be trusted to police itself.
Some Republican senators have sought to portray the ethics reform push as an effort by liberals and Democrats to smear the court as its 6-3 conservative majority continues to steer the law in a rightward direction. They have said the court should set its own rules and have questioned whether lawmakers possess the power to impose ethics standards on it under the U.S. Constitution’s division of powers among the federal government’s executive, legislative and judicial branches.
(Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Will Dunham)
