Thread by @SenWhitehouse

The Alito “insurrection flag” incident is bad enough (even Republicans have spoken out, which re: our captured Court is rare to see).

Worse, it’s not an isolated incident over at the Roberts Court.

🧵

Last year, Alito gave an “interview” on WSJ ed page where he (a) opined on a matter likely to come before the Court, (b) on a matter in active dispute, (c) with a lawyer on one side of that dispute (d) while Alito and a friend had direct personal interest in the outcome.

(The dispute was over the ability of Congress to investigate and subpoena a friend of Alito’s for information about undisclosed billionaire gifts to the justice, and billionaire donors’ lawyers quickly quoted Alito’s comments. Self-help.)

Then there’s Thomas, repeatedly participating in cases related to January 6 attack despite his wife’s involvement both as participant and witness, in apparent violation of a recusal law Congress passed that explicitly applies to justices.

Thomas also failed to disclose forgiveness of a debt, which by law is reportable income under ethics and tax laws. Perhaps he also failed to pay required taxes and violated false statement laws (compare criminal cases for other government officials who violated disclosure laws).

(There’s a whole array of donations in the billionaire gifts program that supports Thomas and his family which also implicate ethics and income and gift tax laws.)

There’s a common thread here: no investigation. No interviews, no statements, no reports, no nothing. No one ever asks justices what the facts are. Justices speak in right-wing media or leak through sources, but no official statements where you tell the truth or face penalties.

That is unique throughout government, and it violates very basic tenets of rule of law, not least the ancient principle: nemo judex in sua causa (you don’t judge in your own case).

This cannot stand, particularly at our Supreme Court, for Pete’s sake.

My Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act offers real solutions to this mess.