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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) on Thursday invited Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. to testify at a public Senate hearing next month on ethics rules governing the Supreme Court as part of what Durbin said is a needed conversation “on ways to restore the Court’s ethical standards.”
Durbin’s request — which would allow Roberts to send a colleague as an alternative — follows recent revelations about a Texas billionaire taking Justice Clarence Thomas on lavish vacations and buying a Georgia home from Thomas and his relatives where the justice’s mother lives. The lack of disclosure has revived concerns about the court’s ability to police its own ethics issues.
Although the justices say they voluntarily comply with the same ethical guidelines that apply to other federal judges, the lack of an ethics code specific to the Supreme Court became a prominent complaint on Capitol Hill predating the latest reports on…
This article was written by John Wagner and originally published on www.washingtonpost.com