WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 15, 2024) – Free Speech For People, Indivisible, Women’s March, and Money Out Voters In have launched a Week of Action urging Congress to investigate corruption on the Supreme Court. 

Investigative reporting from ProPublica has exposed that at least two justices have accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts from billionaires. In his position as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Justice Thomas has, over the course of many years, accepted and failed to disclose his receipt of hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and other financial benefits from Harlan Crow – the Republican billionaire and activist whose organizations regularly file briefs in the Supreme Court advocating positions that Thomas reliably adopts. Thomas has also refused to recuse himself from matters before the Court in which his wife had an interest, including attempts to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Justice Alito, in addition to accepting and failing to disclose lavish gifts from conservative donors, displayed symbols of the January 6th insurrection outside his properties. The New York Times reported an upside-down American flag, a symbol of the “Stop the Steal” movement, flew outside the Alitos’ primary residence after the 2020 election. Chief Justice Roberts was reportedly aware of the flying of this insurrectionist flag outside Justice Alito’s primary residence at the time that it happened and while the Supreme Court was considering a case brought by Donald Trump alleging false claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. A second Alito home flew an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, a symbol of Christian nationalism, in 2023. Like Justice Thomas, Justice Alito failed to recuse himself from cases before the Court related to the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection.

This rampant corruption and lack of ethical standards displayed by Supreme Court justices have been directly linked to Court decisions that have disproportionately harmed vulnerable communities in recent years, most notably overturning a 50-year precedent establishing the right to choose in its 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Other Court rulings have opened the door to racial and LGBTQ+ discrimination, favored corporate interests over those of the public, and twisted freedom of religion into a license for Christian nationalists to discriminate against disfavored minorities.

The organizations are demanding that Congress take several steps to hold the Supreme Court accountable. These include holding public hearings to expose corruption at the Supreme Court; issuing subpoenas where necessary, including subpoenas of Supreme Court Justices Alito, Roberts, and Thomas; and exposing the conflict of interest in cases related to the January 6th insurrection.

“Our democracy faces a grave crisis with the Supreme Court mired in corruption and undue influence. But Congress is not helpless. We need them to do their job: hold these billionaire-bought judges accountable and pass meaningful court reform. This starts with Senator Dick Durbin. It is his responsibility as Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee to address the rampant corruption at the Supreme Court,” said Alexandra Flores-Quilty, Campaign Director of Free Speech For People. 

“For months, local Indivisible leaders have been ringing the alarm bells about this corrupt and overreaching Supreme Court. They’ve been pushing Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin to do his damn job and hold these justices accountable before it’s too late. Now, as our democracy is on the brink of collapse, Durbin and his fellow Democrats must rise to the challenge. Take swift action, hold hearings, initiate investigations, issue subpoenas, and demonstrate to the American people that Democrats take democracy seriously. Voters want decisive leadership, and now is the time to provide it,” said Ezra Levin, co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible.

“The Supreme Court’s flagrant and appalling corruption is an ongoing threat to American democracy.  Chief Justice Roberts has shown no appetite for addressing the crisis he has allowed to metastasize within his Court. We the People have no recourse nor agency to make demands of unelected, lifetime appointees to the Supreme Court.  All we have are our elected representatives in Congress who are tasked with overseeing the judicial branch.  Senator Durbin, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, must exercise his oversight duty to hold hearings, issue subpoenas, and enforce those subpoenas.  The American people deserve a full airing of the breaches of law and ethics in our nation’s highest court.  Senator Durbin must rise to this occasion.  His country needs him,” said Michele Sutter, President of MOVI, Money Out Voters In.

“The Supreme Court is out of control and its long past time that Congress act to provide a check on this rogue branch of government. As it if wasn’t bad enough that a cabal of right-wing zealots stole a Supreme Court seat to install extremists to the bench, it is now all too clear that at least two of those justices – Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas – are on the take and selling out the Constitution to billionaires and their partisan political ideologies. The American people deserve better. We deserve to have a Supreme Court that reflects our values and respects the rule of law. With Chief Justice Roberts failing to act, Congress must.” explained Rachel O’Leary Carmona, executive director at Women’s March.

 

The Week of Action took place July 8 – July 13. It’s not too late to participate, you can use this form and script to call your elected representatives.