After months of urging the Supreme Court to adopt a code of ethics, Democrats and liberal judicial advocates are disenchanted by the justices' new code of conduct over a lack of binding enforcement measures.
The Supreme Court's new code drew mixed opinions from Democratic senators, including Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) and fellow Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), over an apparent absence of an enforcement mechanism. The high court adopted the code on Monday after a series of media reports surfaced ethics questions about specific justices and prompted criticism from Democrats over Republican-appointed Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
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What the Supreme Court did was "no surprise," Durbin told the Washington Examiner.
"They're under a lot of pressure. The reputation of the court has been damaged. We're going over it very carefully to see exactly what they did and whether it really is enough disclosure and enforcement," Durbin said.
The 14-page document released by the high court contains nine pages codifying that the justices should not allow outside relationships to influence their official conduct or work, but it underscores that the justices have been consulting the same code of conduct that lower court federal judges follow for ethical and recusal guidelines.
A section titled "COMPENSATION, REIMBURSEMENT, FINANCIAL REPORTING" states that justices "may accept reasonable compensation and reimbursement of expenses for permitted activities" if the source of the gift does not seem intended to influence a justice's duties "or otherwise appear improper."
Whitehouse, who has urged his fellow lawmakers to get behind a bill that would allow a panel of chief judges from lower courts to investigate allegations of impropriety by the nine justices, told the Washington Examiner he wouldn't be satisfied "until the Supreme Court has a proper code of ethics and a way of enforcing it like every other court in the country.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called the new code a "pretty vague set of rules," agreeing with his colleagues that Congress "still has an obligation to add some specifics, whether it's through the Judicial Conference or some other means."
Across the aisle, Republicans on the committee, including Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), thought the high court's announcement was a "great start," adding, "It'll be interesting if it's responsive to what I think was a legitimate concern with the current standards."
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said, "It's a good thing that they did it, but it shouldn't be surprising that they're doing it because they've been studying it for two or three years."
The new code of conduct comes as at least three justices, Sonia Sotomayor, an Obama appointee, Alito, and Thomas, have been the subject of reports raising questions about the ethics of their actions while on the high court. The Associated Press reported Sotomayor's staff prodded colleges and libraries to purchase her books. Thomas was the subject of a series of ProPublica reports highlighting lavish trips he took over the course of several years that were financed by wealthy GOP donor Harlan Crow, and it also revealed billionaire Paul Singer allowed Alito to fly aboard his private jet for an Alaskan fishing trip in 2008.
However, none of the reports revealed those actions influenced the justices' decisions from the bench. Some defenders of the high court's conduct, such as former Thomas clerk Carrie Severino, president of JCN, predicted the new code wouldn't "satisfy Senate Democrats and their liberal dark-money backers."
The campaign for getting the justices to adopt a code of conduct "has never really been about ethics but rather intimidating a court that it despises for being faithful to the Constitution," Severino added.
The move to adopt a code of conduct also marks an about-face from a 2011 year-end report by Chief Justice John Roberts, which at the time dismissed calls to adopt such guidance, noting that the high court consults the Code of Conduct for United States Judges.
Meanwhile, left-of-center groups such as the Indivisible Project likened the new code to a "total joke," saying in a statement to the Washington Examiner that "Senate Dems should keep up the pressure."
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The code also comes just days before Durbin plans to call a vote to subpoena two high-profile GOP donors, including Crow and Leonard Leo, the latter of whom held a pivotal role in forming the Trump administration's short list of high court nominees.
An initial vote to subpoena both of them was called off due to "scheduling issues," Durbin said last week. The committee is again scheduled to vote on the subpoenas this Thursday.