Senate Judiciary Committee Requests Answers from Chief Justice John Roberts on Supreme Court Ethics Policies

The Senate Judiciary Committee is requesting answers from Chief Justice John Roberts regarding the Supreme Court’s ethics policies. On Thursday, all 11 Democrats on the committee signed a letter to Roberts, asking him to respond to several questions about the statement of principles he attached to a letter to the committee earlier this week.

The letter was in response to a request from Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, for Roberts to appear before the committee or designate another justice to appear for a hearing about how the court handles conflicts of interest and other ethics issues.

The senators said in their letter that the statement of principles Roberts provided was insufficient on its own and raised more questions than it answered. They added that Roberts’ answers would help the committee’s work on legislation to deal with the justices’ ethical obligations.

The senators listed several questions they wanted Roberts to answer, including how the court handles recusals, how it handles complaints of ethical misconduct, and how it ensures that justices are not influenced by outside sources.

The letter comes after Roberts rejected Durbin’s request that he appear before the committee or designate another justice to appear. It is unclear whether Roberts will respond to the senators’ questions.