Ranking Member Raskin and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez to Host Roundtable on the Ethics Crisis at the Supreme Court

Washington D.C. (June 6, 2024)—On Tuesday, June 11, 2024, at 4:00 p.m. ET, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Vice Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability; and other Democratic Committee Members will host a roundtable with expert panelists, including Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, to examine how Supreme Court Justices beholden to right-wing dark money networks and unencumbered by any binding code of ethics are imposing an extremist agenda that undermines American democracy, deprives Americans of basic civil rights, and guts environmental protections.

This roundtable follows the numerous revelations that conservative Supreme Court Justices Alitoand Thomas accepted lavish, secret gifts from right-wing megadonors.  Although the Supreme Court implemented a Code of Conduct in 2023, the Code defers to individual Justices to be the judges of their own conduct and enables conservative Justices to continue their corruption without accountability.  Committee Republicans have refused Democrats' repeatedrequeststo address these unethical practices.

More recently, in another blatant example of the crisis of ethics at the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Roberts refused to take any actions to require Justice Alito to recuse from cases regarding the January 6th insurrection despite damning revelations that Justice Alito has repeatedlyflown flags associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement and January 6 insurrectionists.  Additionally, Justice Thomas failed to recuse from January 6th related cases, despite evidence that Ginni Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, helped lead the “Stop the Steal” campaign, attended the January 6, 2021, rally near the White House, and actively strategized with then-President Trump's chief of staff about overturning the results of the 2020 elections.

“The highest court in the land has the lowest ethical standards.  This mismatch is producing unequal justice under law in America.  Behind closed doors, billionaire sugar daddies give Supreme Court justices lavish gifts and push through an extremist agenda against the rights of the people.  The whole country is caught in a supreme ethics crisis.  Our democracy, voting rights, and fundamental rights are on the line, and everything we have fought for is in danger because of this runaway Court, from workers' rights and fair housing to the right to clean air and water and the fundamental right to abortion access.  Our democracy and our freedom are both in peril,” said Ranking Member Raskin.

“The corruption of the Supreme Court has real and immediate consequences in the lives of everyday Americans and threatens the strength of our democracy.  House Democrats are committed to informing the public about why the court's conservative super majority is rolling back critical economic freedoms, civil rights, and environmental protections, and what we can do about it,” said Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14).