what Dick Durbin What are you going to do now?
Earlier this week, New York Times reported that an upside-down flag—the symbol of the “Stop the Steal” movement—was flying outside Samuel AlitoDemocrats in January 2021. In response, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee called on the Supreme Court justice to recuse himself from election subversion cases, but suggested to reporters that he was powerless to take more concrete action, given Republican opposition to ethics reform. “I don’t think there’s much to be gained from the hearing at this point,” Durbin said Monday.
That feeling resigned before a scandalous court It wasn’t good enough then. But Durbin’s comments now seem even more flawed, later time disclosure Wednesday that Alito’s apparent display of partisanship — which he blames on his wife — doesn’t end with the upside-down flag in 2021: Last summer’s not over other symbol of support for the MAGA-backed uprising—known as the “Call to Heaven” flag—hanging outside his vacation home in New Jersey, photos taken in July, May 8 and September of last year, around the time a case related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack reached the high court. The flag, which originated during the Revolutionary War, has been revived in recent years as a symbol of support for the former President Donald Trumpand was carried out by several insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol in his name in an effort to prevent certification Joe Biden2020 win
Reports of a second, pro-Trump far-right icon at Alito’s home highlight concerns about his independence and judicial integrity, as well as the broader legitimacy of the Supreme Court, which has a six-member conservative majority that regularly acts as a law enforcement agency. of the Republican Party. As a result, Durbin reiterated his call for Alito to recuse himself on Wednesday and asked the court to “adopt an enforceable code of conduct.” But again he did not say what he would do to motivate them.
Durbin has long been critical of the high court and held a hearing last year after a corruption scandal erupted around Clarence Thomas—to promote stronger ethics, transparency, and opt-out practices. “We think all judges should be held to the same standards, at least as other courts in the United States,” Durbin speak me at that time. But this effort faced a brick wall of opposition from the Republican Party, which accused Democrats of trying to “destroy” the administration. John Roberts court, and that dynamic does not appear to have changed. “We need to leave the Supreme Court alone” Mitch McConnellchief architect of the right, speak Monday.
Nothing more than a number gentle criticism to Alito from a minority of Republicans, as Durbin lamented, the Senate math is not on the side of reform: “There is no other way than impeachment, and we are absolutely not at a point that,” he told reporters Monday. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to be gained by taking action. This is a serious problem, as the senator and his colleagues acknowledge; as such, it deserves to be taken seriously by elected officials, even if their less serious counterparts get in the way. “This is not normal,” Maggie Jo Buchanan, executive director of watchdog Demand Justice, said in a statement Wednesday. “Congress must act.”
