Chief Justice John Roberts appears to have the upper hand in the fight over judicial ethics reform, with Senate Democrats unwilling to subpoena him to gain leverage, The Hill reports. Democrats appear divided over the strategy of issuing a subpoena. It’s unclear whether they could even get majority support on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Subpoenaing Roberts could put more pressure on the Supreme Court to take tougher steps on ethics reform. It would also signal to voters that Democrats are trying to use their power to win reform. It would carry risks. A Republican committee member said it would inflame tensions to levels that would grind the panel’s work to a halt. “You bring forth a Supreme Court justice and we go back to unleashing a whirlwind. … It becomes civil war,” the GOP member said. “It’s escalatory on a level you’ve never seen. It would be purely political and then everybody just puts on the bare-knuckles and takes off the gloves.”
Democrats are feeling more pressure over the court and its ethics as report after report surfaces that raises questions about the objectivity and political actions of some justices. A pair of flags were flown over Justice Samuel Alito's homes, including an upside-down U.S. flag over his Alexandria, Va., residence in the days surrounding Jan. 6, 2021, and President Biden’s inauguration. Alito has maintained it was his wife’s decision, but it created another firestorm surrounding the court amid a year of fights over ethics after numerous stories emerged detailing lavish gifts and vacations received by Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas. On Friday, Thomas released a disclosure form that indicated two 2019 trips that he’d previously not disclosed were paid for by billionaire GOP donor Harlan Crow. Thomas’s form said the two trips were “inadvertently omitted” from his previous paperwork’s “reimbursement section.”
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