Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Invited to Testify Before Congress on Ethics Reform

The Senate Judiciary Committee has invited Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to testify at an upcoming hearing on ethics reform. The invitation follows recent revelations about a billionaire GOP mega-donor’s friendship with one of the justices.

Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) sent a letter to Roberts on Thursday, asking him to appear before Congress in early May to discuss ethics rules for Supreme Court justices and potential reforms. Durbin noted that Roberts last addressed ethical issues at the high court in a 2011 report.

“These problems were already apparent back in 2011, and the Court’s decade-long failure to address them has contributed to a crisis of public confidence,” Durbin wrote. “The time has come for a new public conversation on ways to restore confidence.”

Durbin did not cite any specific examples of ethical issues, but said that since 2011, “there has been a steady stream of revelations regarding Justices falling short of the ethical standards expected of other federal judges and, indeed, of public servants generally.”

The upcoming hearing will be an opportunity for the Supreme Court to address these issues and to provide the public with more information about the ethical standards of its justices. It is unclear whether Roberts will accept the invitation, but the hearing is expected to take place in early May.