WASHINGTON -- The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a bill Thursday that would place new transparency rules on Supreme Court filings, place new recusal standards on the justices and require the Supreme Court to adopt a code of ethics.
The 11-10 party-line vote came as Democrats said Congress has to act because reports about undisclosed gifts and travel received by Supreme Court justices had stained the institution. Republicans, who offered about half a dozen rejected amendments, called the measure an attack on the legitimacy of a conservative-controlled court that has ruled in ways Democrats don’t like.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said the court has reached a crisis point, spotlighting travel received by Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Clarence Thomas from billionaire donors. Whitehouse, the bill’s sponsor, said the court has been “supremely idle” in addressing ethics problems and the excuses for not disclosing the gifts have been “laughable.”
