Once congressman said Wednesday that the concerns surrounding Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas are part of a larger issue.
Following the series of scandalous stories about Thomas' financial dealings with and gifts from billionaire GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, the Supreme Court has resisted any effort to establish a binding code of ethics or even to submit to investigations from other branches of government, with Chief Justice John Roberts — whose own wife also has controversial financial dealings — making clear he doesn't believe it's Congress' place to oversee the judiciary.
In response to lawyers from Crow issuing a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, similarly echoing the idea that Congress doesn't have oversight of the Court, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) outlined what a threat this is to the law — and what Congress should do about it.
"The relationship between Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow is emblematic of a broader legitimacy crisis taking root in the judiciary. My SCOTUS term limits bill will democratize and restore trust in the Supreme Court," wrote Khanna. "Public trust in the Supreme Court is at an all-time low. According to the recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, 62% of people don’t have confidence in SCOTUS. That’s the result of 50+ years of dark money far-right extremists' efforts to capture the Court. And that’s what we got, a partisan Court that disregards precedent and issues ideological rulings that limit democracy and deny basic rights."
Under Khanna's bill, future justices would serve single 18-year-terms, staggered so that the president appoints one every two years, which he hopes would reduce the influence of any individual justice and lower the stakes and political incentives of confirmation. The bill would get around the Constitution's requirement that judges will stay on the bench "in good behavior" by rotating termed-out justices into circuit or district courts.
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Advancement of the bill appears unlikely with Republican control of the House, and nine Republican votes being required to bring it to final passage in the Senate.
"Without reform, SCOTUS will continue to hand down political and unprecedented rulings- from striking down Roe, decimating the Voting Rights Act, and limiting the EPA’s ability to reduce power plant emissions," warned Khanna. "And there are critical rulings coming up on student loan debt and how much power state legislatures have to set the rules around their state’s federal elections."
"In a nutshell, SCOTUS is waging a war on the most basic aspects of American freedoms and our Constitutional rights," he added.
