Senator Chris Murphy has dismissed claims by the supreme court justice, Samuel Alito, that the Senate has “no authority” to create a code of conduct for the court as “stunningly wrong”.
The Connecticut Democrat made those remarks in an interview on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, adding that Alito “should know that more than anyone else because his seat on the supreme court exists only because of an act passed by Congress”.
“It is Congress that establishes the number of justices on the supreme court,” Murphy said. “It is Congress that has passed in the past requirements for justices to disclose certain information, and so it is just wrong on the facts to say that Congress doesn’t have anything to do with the rules guiding the supreme court.”
The court is no longer fit for purpose. Where we go now is anyone’s guess.
I am pretty fascinated (read: terrified) about what happens if Congress makes a law giving ethics requirements for the SCOTUS and they strike it down as unconstitutional.
Congress could amend the constitution. Hard to argue that that’s unconstitutional.
That’s waaaay harder, not easier, particularly in this environment.
If that happened I’d expect to see Biden go all in on packing the court. The gloves would be well and truly off at that point.
Which is where we should already be. It’s where the republicans are with it. They’ve been packing the court since Bork got Borked, and went full gloves off during Obama’s last year in office.