WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John Roberts declined Thursday to meet with Democratic senators to discuss Supreme Court ethics issues following reports that controversial flags were flown outside Justice Samuel Alito’s homes.
In a letter to Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Roberts said he “must respectfully decline your request for a meeting,” citing concerns about maintaining judicial independence.
Roberts’ refusal was not a surprise, since last year he refused to attend a hearing on the ethics issue for similar reasons.
He said in his latest letter that meeting with representatives of a party “who have expressed an interest in matters pending before the court” is another reason why “such a meeting would be inadvisable.”
Durbin, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, disagrees with Roberts’ findings and will continue to push for legislation to establish a more rigorous code of ethics for the court than the justices have passed last year, his office said in a statement Thursday.
“President Durbin’s sole interest – as has been the case since he first raised this issue with the Chief Justice 12 years ago – is to restore the credibility of the Court in the eyes of the American people “, the press release said.
Whitehouse, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said in a series of posts on American Judicial Conference, administrative and political -constitutive body of the judiciary, not in its capacity as a member of the court.
“All of this means that the work must continue until we have a Supreme Court that applies to itself the fundamental principles of the rule of law: honest inquiry and neutral decision-making,” Whitehouse added. .
Last week, both senators asked Roberts to address what they called “the Supreme Court’s ethical crisis” after The New York Times reported that flags flown at the Capitol by some Donald Trump supporters on June 6 January 2021 had also been deployed at Alito. houses.
In their letter, they requested to meet with Roberts “as soon as possible” and renewed their “call for the Supreme Court to adopt an enforceable code of conduct for judges.”
That was before Alito himself sent letters to Capitol Hill this week, refusing to recuse himself from matters involving Trump or January 6.
Alito said the high standards for recusal were not met, saying his wife flew the flags and he was not involved in the decisions.
As first reported by the Times, an upside-down American flag was seen at the Alito’s home in Virginia, while a flag associated with conservative Christians was seen at the family’s vacation home in New Jersey .
Alito said in his letters to lawmakers that “a reasonable person who is not motivated by political or ideological considerations or by a desire to influence the outcome of Supreme Court cases” would conclude that no recusal was necessary.
The court adopted a new ethics code in November, which itself has drawn criticism largely because the justices themselves have the final say on how to enforce it.
News Source : www.nbcnews.com
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