In keeping with their scattershot efforts to politicize the judiciary, Senate Democrats have decided to hold the Supreme Court hostage by holding a gun to their own heads.

The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee may attempt later today to extort Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts into imposing a more robust “code of ethics” on his fellow justices. How? By holding the Court’s funding hostage:

But The Early obtained an amendment he is expected to at least bring up for discussion, if not formally offer, that would withhold $10 million in funding from the court’s $110 million salaries-and-expenses account until Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. informs Congress “that the Supreme Court has put into effect a code of ethics for the Chief Justice and the associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.”

The maneuver has united Republicans in opposition to it — a stumbling block that will be impossible to overcome if the initiative ever found its way to the GOP-controlled House, from which appropriations bills must originate. But it is unlikely to make it that far because it has also unnerved some of the Democrats in control of the Senate.

The Post reports that Committee Chair, Senator Patty Murray, is likely to “fend off partisan proposals that could derail the annual spending process.” Senate Majority Whip and Judiciary Committee member Dick Durbin was similarly cool to the proposal. “I still think the proper venue for dealing with ethics and disclosure is the Judiciary Committee,” he said.

Nevertheless, the gesture — that’s all it is — has excited Democratic partisans. It’s unclear how enthusiastic the Democratic Party’s rank-and-file will be when this maneuver fizzles, exposing the full scope of the party’s enervation.