branches. should supreme court justices be held to the same standard as any and all other public servants? the senate judiciary committee held a hearing on the ethical standards or lack thereof for supreme court justices a topic that has come up in light of new reporting on repeated failures by justices to disclose details of lavish vacations, travel, gifts, even real estate transactions, testifying on behalf of democrats, a former federal judge and group of legal experts, guests invited by republicans included a former attorney general. more notable than who testified was who did not. chief justice john roberts declined an invitation from the committee, something dick durbin brought up at the start of today s hearing. in his letter last week the chief justice sent a statement of ethics principles and practices. it was a document that was attacheded to his letter. it is an extraordinary document. not in a good way. it makes clear while the justices are fine with consulting
an acceptable example because the justice insists he lost money in the transaction. how low can the court go? the question today. for their part republicans tried to portray the hearing as an attempt by democrats to smear the court. senator john kennedy returned to a line clarence thomas used in his confirmation hearing decades ago, kennedy accused democrats of a, quote, high-tech lynching, by bringing up questions swirling around thomas relationship with republican mega donor billionaire harlan crow. that defense was undermined almost completely in a statement from leading conservative intellectual former judge michael ludig, the role he played in convincing mike pence he could not and should not joe biden s electoral college victory from being certified january 6th. ludig, submitted a statement to the senate judiciary committee calling for congress to come up