Chief Justice Roberts Breaks Silence on Clarence Thomas Controversy, Suggests Ethics Reforms Coming
Chief Justice John Roberts broke his silence on the controversy swirling around the Supreme Court in the wake of revelations that Justice Clarence Thomas accepted lavish trips and gifts from a GOP mega donor, making remarks during a speech indicating the court would enact new ethics reforms.
A ProPublica report released last month detailed how Thomas and his wife Ginni Thomas took luxury vacations and accepted gifts from Harlan Crow, a wealthy Dallas real estate developer with a long history of generously supporting conservative causes, including being a founding member of the Club For Growth and donating millions of dollars to GOP candidates.
The report drew swift and loud criticism of the Thomases, specifically ProPublica’s suggestion that these travel expenses might run afoul of federal law, and led to calls for new ethics reforms for the Supreme Court and congressional investigations. Newly-disclosed real estate deals between Thomas and Crow further increased the calls for reform.
Roberts spoke at a D.C. event last night, said CNN News Central anchor Sara Sidner Wednesday, and made comments “trying to reassure Americans that the Supreme Court is committed to following the highest standards of conduct.”
In the video clip from Tuesday evening, Roberts voiced his support for reforms but also rebuffed calls for action by Congress:
And on a final issue of concern inside the Court, I want to assure people that I am committed to making certain that we as a Court adhere to the highest standards of conduct. We are continuing to look at things we can do to give practical effect to that commitment, and I am confident there are ways to do that that are consistent with our status as an independent branch of government under the Constitution’s separation of powers.
Some members of Congress were “pressuring the Court to adopt a formal code of ethics,” said Sidner, before introducing CNN’s Supreme Court reporter Ariane de Vogue.
“At the very least, [Roberts] is making clear that he has heard the criticism here about ethics,” said de Vogue, with Democrats especially “saying, look, you have to come up with this ethics code and if you don’t, we will,” so it was noteworthy both that Roberts “clearly says something is going to change” and “then he also pushes back at Congress, in a way, he kind of politely says ‘Back off, we are going to handle this ourselves and those are the tenets of separation of powers.”
The reporter concluded by citing recent polls showing that 41% of Americans approve of what the Court is doing, and 59% disapprove.
Watch above via CNN.
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