The Democrat-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee abruptly called off a vote on issuing subpoenas against two private citizens connected to conservative Supreme Court justices.
A Senate aide said the vote was pulled because a Democrat senator decided to drop his support for the subpoenas. The senator’s office, however, later denied the report.
This was the second time in two weeks that the committee has postponed a vote on issuing the subpoenas.
Although committee Democrats have thus far been publicly united on issues related to their investigation of the ethics of Supreme Court justices, the Nov. 9 vote was apparently canceled because Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) decided to oppose the subpoenas.
“Ossoff was not going to vote with them,” a Senate aide speaking on condition of anonymity told The Epoch Times.
The Epoch Times had reached out to Mr. Ossoff before an earlier, breaking-news version of this article was published with no response, but after the article went live his press secretary, Daniela Campos Lopez, denied the senator changed sides on the subpoena issue.
The report is “inaccurate because he does support the subpoenas,” the press secretary told The Epoch Times in a brief interview.
Committee Chairman Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Republican senators serving on the committee were also asked to comment.
The primary focus of the ongoing probe is Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who was born in 1948 near Savannah, Georgia.
The committee meeting was underway the morning of Nov. 9 when Mr. Durbin abruptly adjourned the meeting without explaining why. He also did not explain when the committee would return to vote.
After the committee voted along party lines to recommend that the full Senate approve two of President Joe Biden’s nominees to the federal bench, Mr. Durbin halted the meeting, much to the surprise of fellow committee members who seemed puzzled by the move.
Later in the day, Mr. Durbin issued a press release.
“Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats remain united in our effort to implement an enforceable code of conduct for Supreme Court justices. To inform this effort, we will continue to pursue subpoena authorization for Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo—two individuals who have refused to comply with this Committee’s oversight requests for months,” Mr. Durbin said.
“Due to scheduling issues, we were unable to complete the markup today. We will continue our efforts to authorize subpoenas in the near future. The highest court in the land cannot have the lowest ethical standards.”
The committee is conducting an investigation as it promotes Democrat-backed legislation that would impose a code of ethics on the high court. Republicans say the legislation is unconstitutional.
Republicans have suggested that Democrats—many of whom want to pack the Supreme Court with liberal justices—only want to move against the court because its six-member conservative-leaning majority has been handing down decisions that they find objectionable.
Three of those six justices were appointed by President Donald Trump, a Republican.
The committee approved the ethics bill on July 20 on a party line 11–10 vote.
The probe comes after the revelation earlier this year of several alleged ethical lapses committed by conservative members of the Supreme Court, particularly Justices Thomas and Samuel Alito.
The subpoena vote was originally scheduled for Nov. 2 but was postponed.
The men targeted in the ethics probe were Harlan Crow, Leonard Leo, and Robin Arkley II, but on Nov. 8 Mr. Durbin said the panel would not vote on a subpoena for Mr. Arkley, a conservative donor who is president and CEO of the Security National Master Holding Co., a mortgage company.
The change of plan came after Mr. Arkley “provided the committee with information that he had been withholding,” Mr. Durbin reportedly said.
Mr. Leo is chairman of the Federalist Society, a lawyers’ group that favors adherence to the Constitution and that has pushed conservative, constitutionalist nominees for the bench.
Mr. Crow, a wealthy Republican donor, gave Justice Clarence Thomas luxurious vacations and tuition support for a grandnephew whom he raised, and purchased low-dollar real estate from the justice’s family.
Justice Thomas didn’t disclose the events at the time, saying that he was advised that it wasn’t required, but he has vowed to disclose such events going forward.
No evidence has come forward to suggest that the justice’s vote in specific cases before the court was influenced by the gifts.
At the committee meeting, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Republicans would fight the subpoena requests.
“We all oppose what you’re doing,” he said, adding the committee had a “long day” ahead of it if it moved forward with the subpoenas.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said the committee should issue subpoenas on other issues of importance including the unprecedented leak of the Supreme Court opinion last year that overturned Roe v. Wade and “the far-left effort to take down President Trump.”
“I think we all know what this is about. And you all have been after Justice Thomas, we are fully aware of this. And I think that the whole charade is truly disgusting.”
“You’re going after a way to delegitimize the court as an institution,” she said.
“Now this summer, what we learned was that over the years,” the staff of liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor “has pressured public institutions to buy her books. And these books, her book deals have earned her $4 million. And I haven’t heard you mention that … You don’t want to talk about that. Nor have you mentioned the fact that she refused to recuse herself from not one but two copyright infringement cases concerning her book publisher. You clearly don’t want to talk about that one either.”
Ms. Blackburn said she would move for subpoenas to be issued to Justice Sotomayor’s staff and her book publisher.
Mr. Durbin said the committee needs to move forward.
“Leonard Leo and Harlan Crow are central players in the ethics challenge facing the court. Their baseless refusal to respond to the committee’s valid inquiries prevent us from understanding the full scope of this issue. As chair of this committee, I cannot allow them to thwart congressional authority.”
He added, “The committee is not engaged in a vendetta against conservatives … I’m not seeking the subpoena authorization to score political points.”
At press time, it was unclear when the committee would vote on the subpoenas.
At the meeting, the committee also voted along party lines to advance two of President Joe Biden’s nominees to the federal bench.
The nominees were Mustafa Taher Kasubhai, to be a United States District Judge for the District of Oregon, and Eumi K. Lee, to be a United States District Judge for the Northern District of California.
Mr. Kasubhai’s nomination was approved on an 11–10 vote. Ms. Lee’s nomination was also approved on an 11–10 vote.
It is unclear when the full Senate will take up the judicial nominations.
