Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday criticized U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts for what he sees as lackluster efforts to address ethical impropriety among high court members.
Justice Roberts has “not lived up to his responsibilities as chief justice,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said at a press conference when asked whether or when the Senate would take up the high court ethics bill that last July passed the Senate Judiciary Committee along party lines.
Schumer’s remarks come on the heels of recent press reports that two flags associated with participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol were flown at the homes of Justice Samuel Alito. Justice Alito has said his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, was responsible for raising the flags.
The resulting criticism has led to renewed calls to codify an ethics regime for the high court, and for Justices Alito and Clarence Thomas—whose wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, pressed Trump White House staff to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election—to recuse themselves from Jan. 6-related cases.
