Sen. Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, plans to block an effort by Senate Democrats to pass a Supreme Court ethics bill unanimously on the full Senate floor on Wednesday.
“I disagree,” Graham told NBC News.
The South Carolina senator’s comments came after Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday he would seek unanimous consent to pass a Supreme Court ethics bill that his committee advanced last July.
The South Carolina Republican’s opposition means the bill cannot move forward because any senator could block the request.
It is unclear whether the bill will come up for a vote in the normal course of action, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said it is under consideration.
Even before Graham’s comments, Democrats had doubts the bill would move forward. “I think we know the outcome, but we’re going to be working through it to make sure both parties have their say on the record,” Durbin told reporters Tuesday afternoon.
The Democratic-led Judiciary Committee, which pushed forward a Supreme Court ethics, challenge and transparency bill on a party-line basis nearly a year ago, needs 60 votes to break a filibuster on the full Senate floor. Democrats have 51 members and no Republicans are in favor of the bill.
In a news release about the vote, Democrats said the vote “follows a number of apparent ethical lapses by Supreme Court justices and demonstrates the need for ethics reform.”
A Supreme Court spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.
Justice Clarence Thomas, in his annual financial disclosure report released last week, reported two trips in 2019 with billionaire friend Harlan Crow, to Bali and the Bohemian Grove private club in California. ProPublica reported on previously undisclosed lavish trips by Thomas and other justices in a series of stories last year questioning the Supreme Court’s ethics.
The bill would authorize courts to adopt and publish codes of conduct within 180 days, allow members of the public to submit ethics complaints that would be reviewed by a randomly selected panel of lower court judges, and establish new rules for disclosing gifts and travel.
The bill would also require judges to publicly explain their decisions to recuse themselves from cases.
Durbin last month called on Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself from two cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol after The New York Times reported that an upside-down U.S. flag had been flown in front of Alito’s home days after the attack. Justice Alito has since refused to recuse himself from those cases.
