A group of House Democrats are pushing to create an investigative office within the Supreme Court to probe the justices and any purported conflicts of interest.
The legislation, titled the Supreme Court Ethics and Investigations Act, also offers ethics training for the justices and their spouses.
“We know the issue of court reform is fundamental to saving our democracy,” Rep. Hank Johnson, Georgia Democrat, said of the bill he co-sponsored and introduced Tuesday.
He was joined on the steps of the Supreme Court on Tuesday by other Democratic lawmakers and progressive advocacy groups supporting the act.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, New York Democrat, also joined in support of the legislation, calling out two justices by name — Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Clarence Thomas, who have refused to recuse themselves from cases where liberals say they have conflicts of interest related to the Jan. 6 riots.
He said Justice Alito flew flags that symbolized the “Stop the Steal” movement and that Justice Thomas’ wife participated in the movement. Virginia Thomas was at the initial Jan. 6 rally but not at the riot that occurred when part of the group then marched on the U.S. Capitol.
Mr. Nadler said that despite the high court adopting its own ethics code last year, there is no enforcement mechanism for investigating ethics concerns lobbed at the justices, who judge their own recusal requests.
The legislation would create an investigative body within the Supreme Court that would report back to Congress on its findings.
The bill comes after Democrats have recently called for Justice Alito to recuse himself from cases related to the Capitol riot over an upside-down American flag being flown outside his Alexandria, Virginia, home days after the violent protest.
He also came under scrutiny for flying an “Appeal to Heaven” flag outside his New Jersey residence in 2023. Some Jan. 6 rioters carried that same flag.
Justice Alito said the flags were his wife’s decisions and that he’s not biased in any dispute.
“My wife is fond of flying flags. I am not. My wife was solely responsible for having flagpoles put up at our residence and our vacation home and has flown a wide variety of flags over the years,” he said in his letter to top Democrats on Capitol Hill last week.
“My wife is an independently minded private citizen. She makes her own decisions, and I honor her right to do so,” he added. “A reasonable person who is not motivated by political or ideological considerations or a desire to affect the outcome of Supreme Court cases would conclude that this event does not meet the applicable standard for recusal. I am therefore duty bound to reject your recusal request.”
The flag-flying incidents were reported by the New York Times. Last year, ProPublica published a series of articles critical of Justice Thomas and ties to a GOP-mega donor.
The calls for recusal come as the high court is weighing two major disputes this term over whether Mr. Trump is immune from charges stemming from his contest of the 2020 election results and another dispute over an obstruction charge facing hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants, including Mr. Trump.
Those opinions are expected to come by the end of June.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.