'Conflicts of interest': Senate Judiciary chair urges John Roberts to adopt Supreme Court ethics code

22 June 2023

The U.S. Supreme Court's already-tarnished image suffered yet another major blow when ProPublica, on June 20, reported that Justice Samuel Alito flew on GOP billionaire Paul Singer's private jet for a fishing trip in Alaska — and later ruled on cases that involved Singer, including Singer v. Argentina.

This follows ProPublica's series of bombshell reports on Justice Clarence Thomas' relationship with another Republican billionaire: Harlan Crow, who "treated" him to "luxury vacations."

Critics of the Roberts Court have been calling for the justices to adopt an ethics code. So far, Chief Justice John Roberts has opposed the idea, but Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) is hoping he will change his mind.

On Thursday morning, June 22, Durbin told MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough (a former GOP congressman) and Mika Brzezinski, "There's one person who could end it before the sun sets today, and that's Chief Justice John Roberts. It's time for him to step up and announce there will be a code of ethics for the Supreme Court, and that the disclosure laws will apply and they will follow at least the same rules as every other federal judge in America. Not doing so is really at the expense of the reputation of the Court."

Scarborough asked Durbin if Alito should have recused himself in Singer v. Argentina in light of his relationship with Singer, and the Senate Judiciary chairman clearly believed that a recusal would have been in order.

"You're not talking about minor rulings,” Durbin told Scarborough and Brzezinski. "This is substantial….. This is the bottom line as far as I see it: The disclosures from Justice Alito strangely or sadly parallel the same disclosures about Justice Thomas. It appears that there's a feeling on the Supreme Court that it's none of our business. No one needs to know when conflicts of interest occur, and the justices don't need to recuse themselves on critical decisions that are worth billions of dollars from people who are befriending them on their vacations."

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