Senior senators Dick Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse threaten to step up supreme court ethics reform
Two senior senators have threatened to step up legislation on supreme court ethics reform following a report saying Samuel Alito had failed to declare a flight paid for by a conservative billionaire.
Dick Durbin, chair of the Senate judiciary committee, and Sheldon Whitehouse, chair of the Senate judiciary subcommittee on federal courts, oversight, agency action, and federal rights, have announced a markup in the judiciary committee on ethics reform legislation surrounding the supreme court.
The announcement said:
“The supreme court is in an ethical crisis of its own making due to the acceptance of lavish gifts from parties with business before the court that several justices have not disclosed. The reputation and credibility of the court are at stake. Chief justice Roberts could resolve this today, but he has not acted.
“The highest court in the land should not have the lowest ethical standards. But for too long that has been the case with the United States supreme court. That needs to change. That’s why when the Senate returns after the July 4th recess, the Senate judiciary committee will mark up supreme court ethics legislation.
“We hope that before that time, chief justice Roberts will take the lead and bring supreme court ethics in line with all other federal judges. But if the court won’t act, then Congress must.”
Key events
Closing Summary
It is slightly past 4pm in Washington DC. Here is a wrap up of the day’s key events:
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Supreme court justice Samuel Alito is facing questions for not declaring several gifts received from conservative billionaire Paul Singer, and for not recusing himself when Singer had cases presented before the court. The latest report questioning the ethics of supreme court justices came from ProPublica, which recently published several articles on the relationship between justice Clarence Thomas and Republican billionaire Harlan Crow.
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The powerful governor of Saudi Arabia’s state-backed investment fund has been invited to testify before a Senate committee in the wake of a proposed merger between Saudi-backed LIV Tour and the PGA, raising the possibility the executive could be questioned under oath about issues ranging from the future of golf to the execution of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Yasir al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, was invited to testify on July 11 by the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations, whose chairman, Democratic senator Dick Blumenthal, is one of the toughest critics of Saudi on Capitol Hill.
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A January 6 rioter who attacked a Capitol Hill police officer in the neck with a stun gun has been jailed for 12 years. Daniel “DJ” Rodriguez yelled, “Trump won!” as he was led out of the courtroom where the US district judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced him to 12 years and seven months behind bars for his role in the attack on Congress. Only two other January 6 defendants have received longer prison terms after hundreds of sentencings for Capitol riot cases.
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Over a quarter of registered voters in the US have indicated that they will only vote for candidates who share the same beliefs as them on abortion. More than a quarter of registered US voters say they will only vote for candidates who share their beliefs on abortion, according to a poll released on Wednesday, a total (28%) one point higher than last year.
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As the US marks one year since the end of Roe v Wade, the Democratic National Committee is launching a six-figure ad campaign to highlight the stakes of the 2024 elections. The campaign, which starts tomorrow, includes billboards and digital ads in battleground states like Georgia and Arizona, as well as marquee locations like Times Square in New York City.
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Two senior senators have threatened to step up legislation on supreme court ethics reform following a report saying Samuel Alito had failed to declare a flight paid for by a conservative billionaire. Dick Durbin, chair of the Senate judiciary committee, and Sheldon Whitehouse, chair of the Senate judiciary subcommittee on federal courts, oversight, agency action, and federal rights, have announced a markup in the judiciary committee on ethics reform legislation surrounding the supreme court.
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Colorado’s rightwing representative Lauren Boebert has introduced a resolution calling for the impeachment of Joe Biden. Boebert introduced the resolution as a privileged resolution which will in turn force the House to vote on the measure in two days.
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The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against Amazon, accusing the company of knowingly enrolling millions of consumers into its Amazon Prime paid subscription without their consent. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Seattle, the FTC accused Amazon of using “manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user-interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically-renewing Prime subscriptions.”
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap up the blog for today. For the full story on Samuel Alito’s failure to disclose his luxury gifts, click here:
Thank you for following along.
The powerful governor of Saudi Arabia’s state-backed investment fund has been invited to testify before a Senate committee in the wake of a proposed merger between Saudi-backed LIV Tour and the PGA, raising the possibility the executive could be questioned under oath about issues ranging from the future of golf to the execution of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Yasir al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, was invited to testify on July 11 by the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations, whose chairman, Democratic senator Dick Blumenthal, is one of the toughest critics of Saudi on Capitol Hill.
Jay Monahan, the PGA commissioner, and LIV Golf League chief executive and commissioner Greg Norman, were also invited to testify.
The proposed merger of LIV Tour and PGA, which also involves the DP World Tour, has received a frosty reception on Capitol Hill, where it is facing questions not only from Blumenthal, but also the Senate finance committee. The call for Rumayyan to testify at a hearing, however, marks a new twist.
California’s Democratic representative Ted Lieu has responded critically to recent reports of Samuel Alito’s failure to disclose luxury gifts from conservative billionaire Paul Singer.
“Americans used to respect the Supreme Court,” Lieu tweeted.
“Now with the flagrant violations of ethical rules and possibly laws by Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas (and potentially other Justices), Americans can rightfully ask: has the Supreme Court turned into a cesspool of corruption?” he added.
Americans used to respect the Supreme Court. Now with the flagrant violations of ethical rules and possibly laws by Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas (and potentially other Justices), Americans can rightfully ask: has the Supreme Court turned into a cesspool of corruption? https://t.co/TCpAZt6cnX
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 21, 2023
A January 6 rioter who attacked a Capitol Hill police officer in the neck with a stun gun has been jailed for 12 years:
The Associated Press reports:
Daniel “DJ” Rodriguez yelled, “Trump won!” as he was led out of the courtroom where the US district judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced him to 12 years and seven months behind bars for his role in the attack on Congress.
Only two other January 6 defendants have received longer prison terms after hundreds of sentencings for Capitol riot cases.
The judge said Rodriguez, 40, was “a one-man army of hate, attacking police and destroying property” at the Capitol.
“You showed up in DC spoiling for a fight,” Jackson said. “You can’t blame what you did once you got there on anyone but yourself.”
A body camera worn by Fanone captured the Metropolitan police officer screaming after Rodriguez shocked him with a stun gun while he was surrounded by a mob.
Another rioter had dragged Fanone into the crowd outside a tunnel on the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol, where police were guarding an entrance. Other rioters began beating Fanone, who lost consciousness and suffered a heart attack after Rodriguez pressed the stun gun against his neck and repeatedly shocked him.
Fanone addressed the judge before she imposed the sentence. The former officer described how the January 6 attack prematurely ended his law enforcement career and turned him into a target for Trump supporters who cling to the lie that Democrats stole the 2020 election.
For the full story, click here:
Two major political action committees have released a statement in response to reports over Samuel Alito’s disclosure failures.
The End Citizens United and Let America Vote Action Fund called Alito’s actions “shameful” and also condemned justice Clarence Thomas surrounding his own failures to disclose luxury trips provided by billionaire GOP donor Harlan Crow.
“Justice Alito’s relationship with billionaire mega-donor Paul Singer is improper and downright shameful. The mere existence of such a relationship undermines the public’s trust and confidence in the Supreme Court, but what is even more alarming is the concrete evidence proving the corruption within the ranks of the Justices.
“These scandals affirm Americans’ fears about impartiality and fairness. The fundamental question arises: Is justice truly blind, or is it simply a commodity to be bought and sold by those with deep pockets? Justices Alito and Thomas have put a price tag on it.
“These scandals should serve as a wake-up call for Congress to implement and enforce a strict code of ethics. Anything short of this will empower the extremist conservative Justices to continue to engage in this reprehensible behavior.”
End Citizen United // Let America Vote Action Fund supports two pieces of legislation that would tackle the ethics problems plaguing the court: the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act and the DISCLOSE Act. These bills will offer more transparency into the justices’ outside activities to identify any potential conflicts of interests, and accountability when they run afoul of the law.”
Over a quarter of registered voters in the US have indicated that they will only vote for candidates who share the same beliefs as them on abortion.
The Guardian’s Erum Salam reports:
More than a quarter of registered US voters say they will only vote for candidates who share their beliefs on abortion, according to a poll released on Wednesday, a total (28%) one point higher than last year.
The survey, from Gallup, was released before the first anniversary of Dobbs v Jackson, by which conservatives on the supreme court removed the right to abortion that had been safeguarded since Roe v Wade in 1973.
A majority of Americans think abortion should be legal at least in some form. Since Dobbs, abortion rights has been seen as a vital motivating factor in a succession of Democratic successes.
According to another poll released on Wednesday, by NPR/PBS News Hour/Marist, 57% of Americans say the court was wrong to bring down Roe.
According to Gallup, for many voters who do not solely base their vote on abortion, the issue is still important: just 14% of respondents said abortion was not a major issue in deciding how they vote. That was down two points on the same survey last year and nine points from the previous low, 23%, in 2007.
In the new Gallup survey, 56% said abortion was just one issue out of many when deciding how to vote. In 2022, 54% gave that answer.
Primary elections continue to serve as a testing ground for the issue.
For the full story, click here:
Democratic lawmakers across California are voicing their discontent with senator Dianne Feinstein’s absence in recent years as a result of her old age and health issues.
In May, Feinstein returned to senate following an extended medical absence due to shingles.
Despite aides reassuring that Feinstein’s health is improving and that she is playing a more active role on Capitol Hill, Democrats remain frustrated over the 89-year old senator, with several of them speaking to CNN.
Representative Raul Ruiz said, “The last time I spoke with her on anything face-to-face was right before the pandemic,” referring to a a conversation he had over three years ago with Feinstein about designating a natural monument in his district.
Representative Mike Levin told CNN that the last conversation he remembers having with Feinstein is in 2018, after he won his San Diego area seat.
“It’s been quite a while,” Levin said. “I don’t speak with her on a regular basis, and that’s been before any of the recent health challenges she’s had.”
“Oh boy, I can’t remember. Probably when I was a freshman member,” representative Nanette Barragán, who was elected in 2016 from a district near Los Angeles, told CNN.
In response to when the last time they spoke was and whether he could recall any collaborations with Feinstein, six-term representative Mark Takano said, “Gosh,” adding, “Hard to say anything we’ve done.”
“Over my 11 years in Congress, I haven’t worked that closely with her,” representative Ami Bera told the outlet.
Joan E Greve
As the US marks one year since the end of Roe v Wade, the Democratic National Committee is launching a six-figure ad campaign to highlight the stakes of the 2024 elections.
The campaign, which starts tomorrow, includes billboards and digital ads in battleground states like Georgia and Arizona, as well as marquee locations like Times Square in New York City.
The DNC’s digital ad brings attention to some of the Republican presidential candidates’ past controversial comments and legislative actions on abortion access. Donald Trump is heard bragging, “I’m the one that got rid of Roe v Wade,” and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is seen signing his state’s six-week abortion ban into law.
Speaking on a press call today, DNC chair Jaime Harrison noted that total abortion bans are widely unpopular with the American people. The Roe reversal is believed to have contributed significantly to Republicans’ disappointing performance in the 2022 midterm elections.
“While these Republicans are in a race to see who can have the most extreme anti-abortion platform, one thing is for certain: the American people have repeatedly — repeatedly — rejected these extremists,” Harrison said. “And they will do it again in 2024.”
Congresswoman Suzan DelBene, chair of House Democrats’ campaign arm, predicted Republicans’ stance on abortion access would determine control of the lower chamber next year.
“In 2024, the threat to abortion rights nationwide will be clearer than ever,” DelBene told reporters. “House Republicans will not stop until they ban abortion nationwide, and this extremism on reproductive freedoms will cost Republicans the House majority.”
Senior senators Dick Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse threaten to step up supreme court ethics reform
Two senior senators have threatened to step up legislation on supreme court ethics reform following a report saying Samuel Alito had failed to declare a flight paid for by a conservative billionaire.
Dick Durbin, chair of the Senate judiciary committee, and Sheldon Whitehouse, chair of the Senate judiciary subcommittee on federal courts, oversight, agency action, and federal rights, have announced a markup in the judiciary committee on ethics reform legislation surrounding the supreme court.
The announcement said:
“The supreme court is in an ethical crisis of its own making due to the acceptance of lavish gifts from parties with business before the court that several justices have not disclosed. The reputation and credibility of the court are at stake. Chief justice Roberts could resolve this today, but he has not acted.
“The highest court in the land should not have the lowest ethical standards. But for too long that has been the case with the United States supreme court. That needs to change. That’s why when the Senate returns after the July 4th recess, the Senate judiciary committee will mark up supreme court ethics legislation.
“We hope that before that time, chief justice Roberts will take the lead and bring supreme court ethics in line with all other federal judges. But if the court won’t act, then Congress must.”
Colorado’s rightwing representative Lauren Boebert has introduced a resolution calling for the impeachment of Joe Biden.
Boebert introduced the resolution as a privileged resolution which will in turn force the House to vote on the measure in two days.
The resolution calls for Biden to be impeached for “high crimes and misdemeanors”.
Using the powers of his high office, President Biden 17 has knowingly presided over an executive branch that has 18 continuously, overtly, and consistently violated Federal 19 immigration law by pursuing an aggressive, open-borders 20 agenda,” it added, accusing Biden of intentionally facilitating a “complete and total invasion of the southern border,” it added.
Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy has commented on the resolution, telling reporters, “I don’t think it’s the right thing to do,” the Hill reports.
This is one of the most serious things you can do as a member of Congress. I think you’ve got to go through the process. You’ve got to have the investigation … And throwing something on the floor actually harms the investigation that we’re doing right now,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nebraska’s Republican representative Don Bacon called Boebert’s move “playground games”.
This shouldn’t be playground games, in my view. This should be serious,” he said on Wednesday, the Hill reports.
“If there’s real facts for impeachment then you go there. But doing this is wrong, and I think the majority of the conference feels that way … Impeachment shouldn’t be something that is frivolous … We should get to the facts of that, but just doing a privileged motion is wrong.”
Dharna Noor
Senate committee chair Whitehouse, who has organized 10 climate-focused hearings since he took the helm of the Senate budget committee, asked Oreskes to “describe for us the academic study of the fossil fuel disinformation operation”.
She explained that in 2004, she published a paper on the scientific consensus on the human-caused climate crisis, and that as a result of that paper, she was targeted by a disinformation campaign herself.
I started getting hate mail,” she said “I had people file complaints against me at my university and went through some unpleasant experiences as well.”
She wasn’t alone. Others, like climate scientist Michael Mann, were attacked in similar ways.
That experience of being attacked led me to try to understand what these attacks were, who was funding them, who was behind them, and why they were doing it,” she said.
The field of study into climate disinformation, she said, is “mature”.
Later, ranking member Grassley asked Pielke to talk about the influence dark money has on Democrats.
In 10 climate hearings, Democrats have never asked a single one of their witnesses about their receipts of dark money, let alone attempted to impugn their integrity or accuse them of conspiracy,” he said.
Pielke responded: “I can’t explain exactly why your colleagues aren’t willing to look at the dark money ties of their own witnesses,” going on to lob accusations.
Oregon senator Jeff Merkley spoke about these accusations later on.
He offered a solution for his Republican colleagues who are concerned about dark money’s influence on Democrats.
We should simply have all political money be disclosed. And the citizens can decide on what impacts that has.”
The DISCLOSE Act, introduced by Whitehouse in the Senate this year, would expose the sources of these clandestine funds.
I would invite my colleagues across the aisle to join us in ending dark money on both sides,” said Merkley.
Joan E Greve
Democrats are intensifying their abortion-related attacks on Republicans, as the US prepares to mark one year since the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade.
Speaking at a press conference on Capitol Hill this morning, Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat of Washington, noted that 14 states have passed total abortion bans since Roe was reversed on 24 June 2022.
Every day, women across our country are confronting a dystopian reality, one where Republican politicians have the final say in their healthcare decisions,” Murray said. “Women are forced to stay pregnant against their will, even when their health and lives are at risk.
Make no mistake: the health care crisis that has unfolded in the aftermath of the Dobbs decision is a direct result of Republicans’ radical, decades-long agenda to control women’s bodies and futures.
— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) June 20, 2023
Senate Democrats plan to push for legislation providing federal protections for abortion and contraception access, but such a bill will almost certainly fail in the Republican-controlled House.
Despite those challenges, Murray emphasized that Democrats would not abandon their efforts to expand and reinforce reproductive rights across the US.
“Women are not going to settle for a country where men in state legislatures are taking away their fundamental freedom to decide what happens to their bodies,” Murray added. “And they’re not going to settle for a country where their daughters and granddaughters have fewer rights than they did just a year ago.”
The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against Amazon, accusing the company of knowingly enrolling millions of consumers into its Amazon Prime paid subscription without their consent.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Seattle, the FTC accused Amazon of using “manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user-interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically-renewing Prime subscriptions”.
It went on to detail the ways Amazon allegedly complicated the cancellation process, which the company called “Iliad”.
For years, Amazon also knowingly complicated the cancellation process for Prime subscribers who sought to end their membership.
Under significant pressure from the Commission – and aware that its practices are legally indefensible – Amazon substantially revamped its Prime cancellation process for at least some subscribers shortly before the filing of this Complaint.
However, prior to that time, the primary purpose of the Prime cancellation process was not to enable subscribers to cancel, but rather to thwart them.
Fittingly, Amazon named that process “Iliad,” which refers to Homer’s epic about the long, arduous Trojan War. Amazon designed the Iliad cancellation process (“Iliad Flow”) to be labyrinthine, and Amazon and its leadership … slowed or rejected user experience changes that would have made Iliad simpler for consumers because those changes adversely affected Amazon’s bottom line.
It added that Amazon generates $25bn in revenue from Prime memberships and that one of the company’s goals is “increasing subscriber numbers”.
Rhode Island’s Democratic senator Sheldon Whitehouse has issued a slew of harsh responses to Alito’s defense of himself in the Wall Street Journal following ProPublica’s reports of his disclosure failures.
“Oh, my, the questions: First, who orchestrated this weird pre-buttal with the infamous WSJ Polluter Page, and did Alito get help from a PR firm? If so, who paid?” wrote Whitehouse.
Oh, my, the questions:
First, who orchestrated this weird pre-buttal with the infamous WSJ Polluter Page, and did Alito get help from a PR firm?
If so, who paid?https://t.co/vPRbOgfsRC
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) June 21, 2023
“Third, why not ask the Financial Disclosure Committee of the Judicial Conference, the body set up exactly for that purpose, for its advice on what should be disclosed? That’s why it’s there,” Whitehouse continued.
“And what, he just happened to be flying to Alaska and there just happened to be a private jet going to Alaska with an empty seat, and he just happened to find that out, like on some weird billionaire shared-ride Uber?” the senator wrote, adding:
“Oh, and would that “empty seat” trick fly with legislative or executive ethics disclosures? (Hint: no.) And how about with the Financial Disclosure Committee? (Right, you didn’t ask.) This just keeps getting worse.”
Oh, and would that “empty seat” trick fly with legislative or executive ethics disclosures? (Hint: no.) And how about with the Financial Disclosure Committee? (Right, you didn’t ask.)
This just keeps getting worse.
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) June 21, 2023
The unidentified bail guarantors of George Santos will be revealed on Thursday.
Reuters reports that federal judge Joanna Seybert announced that the two people who guaranteed bail for the Republican representative will have their names publicly revealed.
Seybert, who said the names will be publicized on Thursday at 12pm ET, rejected Santos’s claims that the public disclosure could threaten the individuals’ safety.
Santos, who has pled not guilty to a 13-count indictment accusing him of fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds, has suggested that his guarantors are family members.
For more details, click here:
