Political Quotes

On the recordFebruary 14, 2023
Mr. President, I am back today now for the 20th time to shed a little light on the dark money scheme to capture and control our Supreme Court. Part of what allows that scheme to flourish is the ethics-free zone around the Supreme Court. It is quite unique. So let's look at it. The last time I gave this speech, No. 19, I walked through the various problems with how the Supreme Court handles allegations of misconduct by the Justices. The short answer is that it doesn't. The U.S. Supreme Court is the only court in the country not covered by an ethics code. And worse than that, it is the only part of the Federal Government that has no process for ethics investigation and enforcement--none. Now, any meaningful ethics regime contains three things: first, a process for receiving complaints; second, a process for investigating those complaints once they are received; and, third, a process for reporting the result and holding powerful people accountable should those complaints turn out to be merited. The House and the Senate, for instance, we have our Ethics Committees. The executive branch has inspector generals and the attorney general. The Federal courts, except the Supreme Court, have their own investigative procedures. It is just the Supreme Court that has none. The closest you get is probably a motion to recuse. Let's start with the difficulty of raising ethics complaints with the Supreme Court.…
Said by
Sheldon Whitehouse
Democratic · Rhode Island

Share & report

More from Sheldon Whitehouse

Jun 25, 2025

We have an individual who is here seeking confirmation to one of the highest judicial offices in the land.

newrepublic.com
Jun 4, 2025

Can’t help but wonder how many Trumps got rejected by Harvard.

slate.com
May 8, 2025

I am actually happy to yield to Senator Schiff from the California delegation. OK. He is happy with me going, so I will go. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.

Congressional Record · 2025-05-08
Apr 4, 2025

Mr. President, let me thank our Democratic leader for that very kind intro. I will confess that I come to the Senate floor today with a pretty heavy heart. The effort that we are engaged in right now is going to be extremely damaging to…

Congressional Record · 2025-04-04

Other voices in this conversation