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A Senate Supreme Court ethics investigation proved rather one-sided when the major findings predictably left out three of the sitting justices.

The prolonged partisan attacks against the stalwart defenders of the Constitution at the high court sunk to a new low Saturday with the release of a nearly 100-page report on supposed ethics concerns among those on the bench.

Glaringly absent from the 14 findings of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s report that alleged conflicts of interest, “lavish gifts from billionaires” and specific references to Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Clarence Thomas, and even his wife Ginni Thomas, were any named references to the Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan or Ketanji Brown Jackson.

In fact, as the narrative of a “conservative court” was advanced under Chief Justice John Roberts, the report appeared to take lengths to downplay allegations against the liberal wing of the court while sharing it without a direct link to the “new info and recommended actions.”

“For example, Justice Kagan reportedly turned down a gift of bagels and lox from high school friends, due to her personal stance on gifts,” it stated at one point and deflected concerns about “Justice Sotomayor’s alleged use of staff to help promote sales of her book,” citing how “‘other activities permitted under these Canons’ are unlimited compensation for writing a book and a justice attending and speaking at events where the justice’s book is for sale, thereby limiting the scope and effectiveness of the new prohibition.”

As for Jackson, who faced an ethics complaint over the omission of her husband’s income, one of the few mentions was her favor for oversight, “Yet, to date, only three justices have publicly expressed openness to implementing an enforceable code of conduct: Justice Kagan, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Justice Sotomayor.”

In fact, references to late Justice Antonin Scalia far exceeded the judicial activist side of the court, which included Kagan’s participation in hunting trips with the conservative justice.

“Now more than ever before, as a result of information gathered by subpoenas, we know the extent to which the Supreme Court is mired in an ethical crisis of its own making,” asserted committee Chair Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin (D) in a statement. “Whether failing to disclose lavish gifts or failing to recuse from cases with apparent conflicts of interest, it’s clear that the justices are losing the trust of the American people at the hands of a gaggle of fawning billionaires.”

“The highest court in the land can’t have the lowest ethical standards. So long as Chief Justice Roberts and the Judicial Conference refuse to act, we must push for a legislative solution to this crisis to restore trust in the highest court,” he argued in pushing for passage of the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act.

In response to claims that Thomas had allegedly violated federal law for failure to disclose gifts and Alito had misused a “personal hospitality” exemption for a 2008 fishing trip, among the other accusations brought against the court, social media users slammed the “strong work” that was released ahead of a holiday while calling for the same level of scrutiny to be applied to the entire court along with the rest of the federal government.

Kevin Haggerty
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