Democrats’ Attack on Supreme Court Intensifies

The Democrats are attacking the independence of the Supreme Court, for obvious reasons: for once, they don’t control it. The attack is multi-faceted, but “ethics” is the most common excuse. They attacked Justice Thomas, whom they hate, for going on vacations with a rich conservative friend, Harlan Crow. It is obvious that Thomas committed no ethics violation, and the Wall St. Journal’s Editorial Board points out the Left’s usual double standards:

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson didn’t get the same attention when she revised her financial disclosures in 2022. Her oversights were far more extensive than Justice Thomas’s. There was also no outcry in 2020 when Justice Sonia Sotomayor amended her financial disclosures after the group Fix the Court found that she hadn’t disclosed reimbursement for trips to universities.

Nor was there an uproar when the OpenSecrets website reported in 2019 that former Justice Stephen Breyer was reimbursed for trips some 219 times from 2004-2018. Some of those trips were supported by the wealthy Pritzker family. There are other examples involving liberal Justices.

To be clear, we believe none of these Justices did anything wrong. But neither did Justice Thomas in having a rich friend in Harlan Crow or a minor oversight on one of his disclosure forms. Democrats didn’t mind any of this when they agreed with the Court’s opinions on gay marriage, abortion, or restraining Donald Trump.

More recently, the Democrats have attacked Justice Neil Gorsuch on grounds that might be even flimsier. He was one member of a group that sold a property in Colorado. Gorsuch properly reported his income from the LLC that owned the property, not when the LLC sold it. The fact that some reporters apparently don’t understand this reflects the dismal state of “journalism” in today’s America. Ed Whelan points out some inconvenient facts:

[T]here was zero reason to believe that the buyer of the property, Brian Duffy, CEO of the Greenberg Traurig law firm, was trying to influence Gorsuch. Among other things:

* The initial asking price for the property was $2.495 million, but Duffy bought it for only $1.825 million.

* “Duffy said he did not know Gorsuch was one of the owners when he made his first offer” and that Gorsuch’s ownership interest was “absolutely irrelevant to the purchase of that property.” Duffy had “been looking for the right property for his family” for many years.

* Duffy attested that he doesn’t know Gorsuch: “I’ve never spoken to him. I’ve never met him.”

* Gorsuch had only a 20% stake in the property. (It would be rather odd for an influence schemer to give 80% of any benefit to folks who aren’t his target.)

* Duffy’s political contributions are primarily to Democratic candidates.

But, hey, if the Democrats have suddenly taken an interest in influence peddling, I’ve got some ideas for people they could investigate.

The purpose of the Democrats’ attacks, obviously, is to smear conservative justices in the eyes of the ignorant and ill-informed–i.e., those who rely on the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN for their news.

Most recently, Democrat Dick Durbin asked Chief Justice John Roberts to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee today, to testify on “ethics” in the Supreme Court. Roberts naturally declined the invitation. All nine Justices signed this letter explaining the separation of powers grounds for Roberts’ response and also expanding on how judicial ethics are regulated (i.e., not by Dick Durbin):

The Democrats’ attacks on the Court are, to characterize them generously, pathetically stupid. Moreover, there is a wonderful irony in Senate Democrats, virtually all of whom get rich on modest government salaries, attacking Supreme Court Justices on grounds of “ethics.”

So what is the point? The Democrats obviously are trying to lower the standing of the Court, and the judiciary, in the eyes of the uninformed. But why?

Actually, the question answers itself. In a democracy, the popular standing of any institution is critically important. For many years, the Supreme Court has consistently polled more favorably than Congress or most presidents. Undermining public respect for the judiciary is an end in itself, as Democrats look forward to more rulings (e.g., on race discrimination in college admissions) that they don’t like.

Beyond that, Democrats have talked openly about packing the court. Will Congress really pass legislation expanding the Court so a Democratic president can appoint a slate of partisan justices? Not while the Republicans control either chamber, certainly. And even if the Democrats should narrowly control both House and Senate at some point, I doubt that they would try to pack the Court. Rather, beyond their usual propaganda effort, I think Democrats hope that they can intimidate one or more of the conservative justices and cause him, or them, to swing to the Left to ensure popularity in Georgetown.

It has happened before, repeatedly, but I don’t think it will happen now. Today’s generation of conservative judges is far more self-consciously conservative than prior generations. They didn’t go on to the Court hoping for favorable reviews in the Washington Post.

I also think that threats of assassination by the likes of Chuck Schumer, which leaking of the Dobbs opinion apparently was intended to promote, have backfired. Threats to their families’ personal safety have, I suspect, have only hardened the determination of conservative justices to stick up for the Constitution. In fact, the justices’ security was the last subject touched on in the nine justices’ letter to Durbin:

A word is necessary concerning security. Judges at all levels face increased threats to
personal safety. These threats are magnified with respect to Members of the Supreme Court, given
the higher profile of the matters they address. Recent episodes confirm that such dangers are not
merely hypothetical. Security issues are addressed by the Supreme Court Police, United States
Marshals, state and local law enforcement, and other authorities.

Those threats come exclusively from the Democratic Party. Let’s hope it doesn’t take an assassination for voters to realize what an evil game the Democrats are playing.