Senate Committee Seeks Testimony from Chief Justice Roberts on Supreme Court Ethics

Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin has invited Chief Justice John Roberts or another justice to testify before his committee next month for a hearing on Supreme Court ethics rules. The request comes after Senate Democrats raised questions about whether the ethical standards of the high court need to be reviewed or changed in the wake of a ProPublica report that found Justice Clarence Thomas has gone on several luxury trips involving travel subsidized by GOP megadonor Harlan Crow. The hospitality was not disclosed on Thomas’ public financial filings with the Supreme Court. Republicans on the Judiciary Committee argued that Roberts should reject the request to testify, warning it would be “a circus.”