The PBS NewsHour on Thursday once again pushed the liberal crusade against conservative Supreme Court justices even as the issues has fallen off the map at other outlets. PBS is part of the matrix of liberal pressure groups, including the nonprofit investigative journalism outlet ProPublica, aiming to hem in the conservative Supreme Court, as its decisions have turned against the left’s decades of gains, made on the cheap under an activist liberal high court.
Host Geoff Bennett talked to Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), chairman of the relevant congressional subcommittee looking into Republican-appointed justices accepting trips and gifts without disclosing them on forms (Ethics questions concerning Democrat-appointed justices are generally ignored by Democrats and their media allies).
Whitehouse’s thesis of corruption, delivered in unstatesman-like fashion, went (mostly) unchallenged, and there was no Republican politician or other voice to provide counterpoint on a taxpayer-supported news program legislatively obligated to strive for balance and objectivity.
Bennett: A series of reports this year about several conservative Supreme Court justices accepting free trips and failing to disclose them has prompted renewed efforts by Senate Democrats to implement a code of ethics for the high court. Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee intend to subpoena Republican megadonor Harlan Crow and conservative legal activist Leonard Leo as part of their investigation. A planned vote on those subpoenas was postponed today. Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island chairs the Subcommittee on Federal Courts, and he joins us now….what information are you seeking with these subpoenas to Mr. Crow and Mr. Leo? Does the investigation extend beyond what you see as a need to implement a code of ethics? And the reason I ask the question is because I have watched your Senate floor speeches…
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: Yes.
Geoff Bennett: … the series called The Scheme.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: Yes.
Bennett wanted to hear the seamy details: "And you seem to allude to underlying tax crimes. What's your theory of the case?"
Bennett did sling a couple of soft curve balls in Whitehouse’s direction, like this:
Bennett: On this matter of Justice Thomas accepting gifts and luxury trips, what do you say to those who might make the argument Harlan Crow can spend his money however he sees fit? And if Justice Thomas is eating canapes off the back of Harlan Crow's mega-yacht, whether he does that or not, it's not going to change the fact that he is a conservative vote and voice on the Supreme Court.
But otherwise, the PBS journalist sounded impatient for action by liberal Democrats against the conservative-dominated Supreme Court, and Whitehouse tried to oblige with ideological red meat.
Bennett: You and Senator Durbin, who now chairs the Judiciary Committee, have been calling for an enforceable code of conduct for more than 10 years. There was a letter that was issued 11 years ago. And we know, just based on public reporting and public comments, that Justices Kagan, Kavanaugh, and Coney Barrett have publicly vote -- voiced support.
Sen. Whitehouse: And Roberts himself, yes.
Bennett: So what's the holdup?
Sen. Whitehouse: I think the holdup is probably Thomas and Alito, who seem to be the ones with their hands furthest in the cookie jar, who probably don't want any further inquiry into that, and who seem to be liking billionaire-funded lifestyles of the rich and famous.
Bennett then suggested "There are Republicans who say this entire effort, this entire enterprise is aimed at defanging the Supreme Court's conservative supermajority as it moves jurisprudence to the right. What do you say to that?" Whitehouse simply said "I think they're wrong."
This slanted segment on the Supreme Court was brought to you in part by Raymond James.
A transcript is available, click “Expand.”
PBS NewsHour
11/9/23
7:36:41 p.m. (ET)
Geoff Bennett: A series of reports this year about several conservative Supreme Court justices accepting free trips and failing to disclose them has prompted renewed efforts by Senate Democrats to implement a code of ethics for the High Court. Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee intend to subpoena Republican megadonor Harlan Crow and conservative legal activist Leonard Leo as part of their investigation. A planned vote on those subpoenas was postponed today. Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island chairs the Subcommittee on Federal Courts, and he joins us now. Welcome to the "NewsHour."
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): Good to be with you. Thanks for having me on.
Geoff Bennett: So, as we mentioned, the committee was expected to vote on those two subpoenas today, but hit a roadblock. What happened?
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: The Republicans are desperate not to have to vote on this. And so, last night, they filed nearly 90 amendments, and that meant that all of our members had to review overnight 90 separate amendments, all of them intended to be poisonous, and try to figure out, like, what our joint response was going to be. In effect, they jammed the gears of the committee with an avalanche of bad faith amendments. And so that stopped things today. But the resolve of the committee to vote out the subpoenas is fixed and firm, and it's just a matter of rescheduling. And now that we know that that's the strategy, we can prepare for it.
Geoff Bennett: Well, what information are you seeking with these subpoenas to Mr. Crow and Mr. Leo?
Does the investigation extend beyond what you see as a need to implement a code of ethics? And the reason I ask the question is because I have watched your Senate floor speeches…
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: Yes.
Geoff Bennett: … the series called The Scheme.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: Yes.
Geoff Bennett: And you seem to allude to underlying tax crimes. What's your theory of the case?
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: First of all, we need to know what all these conservative justices have been receiving. ProPublica and other news reports have done a very good job of bringing out some things, but it's not clear that we know all of it. We also need to develop information about how systemic this was. This isn't just random gift here and a random gift there. It's always the same individuals, the same front groups. It's — there's a network effect here that we need to understand. And then the Finance Committee, separately, is looking at the tax side for several reasons. First of all, were these gifts declared as income, if they should have been? And if the donor declared them as a business expense, how do you get away with claiming that it's personal hospitality? And if it's a gift, there are also gift tax considerations once you get over $17,000. So it looks like the reporting failures aren't just violations of the disclosure laws. They may also be violations of the tax laws.
Geoff Bennett: On this matter of Justice Thomas accepting gifts and luxury trips, what do you say to those who might make the argument Harlan Crow can spend his money however he sees fit? And if Justice Thomas is eating canapes off the back of Harlan Crow's mega-yacht, whether he does that or not, it's not going to change the fact that he is a conservative vote and voice on the Supreme Court.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: The issue is probably not Harlan Crow. I don't see that Harlan Crow is in trouble for any of this, unless false statements were filed of some kind. But we have no indication of that. The problem is on the court side. Supreme Court justices, like other judges, have an obligation to file disclosures that show what gifts and emoluments and so forth they have received. And that legal obligation, a law passed by Congress, is implemented by the Judicial Conference, a body created by Congress for that purpose, among others. So we need to look into whether those laws are being properly implemented by the Judicial Conference should these big gifts have been disclosed, and how do the arguments that they didn't need to be disclosed fare when shone to the light of day? And my contention is, the arguments fare terribly when shone to the light of day. The gifts should have been disclosed. And, potentially, because of the systematic nature of these gifts and the repeated nature of these gifts, there may be a good deal more to this than just come on my yacht and have a nice afternoon.
Geoff Bennett: So you're saying that Congress does have a role here, because Justice Alito, as I'm sure you know, says that Congress does not have the authority to implement a code of ethics on the Supreme Court, says there's nothing in the Constitution that calls for it.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: Yes, that was weird.
Geoff Bennett: In what ways?
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: Well, it was weird in several ways. First, it was weird in that he's wrong. Second, it was weird in that he offered it as an opinion in The Wall Street Journal editorial page, as opposed to in a Supreme Court opinion. And we're told every time they come before us, oh, we couldn't possibly comment on that, Senator, because we're not allowed to offer opinions on matters that might come before the court. Here's a matter headed for the court, and he offered an opinion on it. And the sort of final salvo here is that, when there have been previous episodes of potential improper gifts, those issues have been referred to the Judicial Conference under the disclosure laws. And the Supreme Court has never objected to it. When Harlan Crow gave his first round of yacht and jet travel gifts to Justice Thomas, that question was referred to the Judicial Conference and addressed under these disclosure laws. So to say that we have no role here is in flat conflict with the facts and the history of what has already taken place in similar matters. With the Supreme Court's full consent.
Geoff Bennett: You and Senator Durbin, who now chairs the Judiciary Committee, have been calling for an enforceable code of conduct for more than 10 years.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: Yes.
Geoff Bennett: There was a letter that was issued 11 years ago. And we know, just based on public reporting and public comments, that Justices Kagan, Kavanaugh, and Coney Barrett have publicly vote — voiced support.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: And Roberts himself, yes.
Geoff Bennett: So what's the holdup?
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: I think the holdup is probably Thomas and Alito, who seem to be the ones with their hands furthest in the cookie jar, who probably don't want any further inquiry into that, and who seem to be liking billionaire-funded lifestyles of the rich and famous.
Geoff Bennett: There are Republicans who say this entire effort, this entire enterprise is aimed at defanging the Supreme Court's conservative supermajority as it moves jurisprudence to the right. What do you say to that?
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: Well, I think they're wrong. First of all, you mentioned the letter that began 11 years ago, before this had taken place. So the timing doesn't work. Second, set all the drama aside and all the noise. What you have is billionaires with a demonstrated pattern of trying to influence the Supreme Court through a whole variety of groups by giving donations and participating, who are at the same time also giving enormous, massive, secret gifts to justices. Just on its face, that merits investigation. And if it happened in any other court in the United States, it would have been investigated. There would have been fact-finding, and there would have been a result and consequences. It's only the Supreme Court that is living outside the bounds of the rules. And if they were not living outside of the bounds of the rules, then we'd have probably a separate fight over the merits of the decisions that they're making. But that doesn't change the fact that they're operating right now, some of them, outside of the rules.
