On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee revealed plans to vote on issuing subpoenas to Harlan Crow and Robin Arkley II, both affluent GOP contributors, as well as conservative legal advocate Leonard Leo. All three have been linked to questionable luxury excursions involving members of the Supreme Court.
“The Supreme Court is currently facing an ethical dilemma of its own creation,” stated Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) in a shared statement. “To properly address this issue, it’s crucial to fully comprehend how individuals with pending matters before the Court can exploit undisclosed gifts to privately connect with the justices.”
Both Durbin and Whitehouse asserted that Crow, Leo, and Arkley have either been unresponsive to the committee’s questions or have provided insufficient information. “Given the lack of cooperation from Crow, Leo, and Arkley, the Committee has no choice but to pursue a mandatory process to acquire the information they possess,” the statement from the committee read. “As a result, Chairman Durbin will request the Committee’s approval to issue subpoenas to these individuals.”
If approved, these subpoenas would signify a significant development in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s ongoing probe into ethical questions surrounding Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
Durbin also pointed out that Chief Justice John Roberts has the authority to resolve this ethical quandary immediately by implementing a binding code of conduct. “Until he [Roberts] takes action, the Judiciary Committee will continue its efforts,” Durbin noted in a message on X, previously known as Twitter.
