WASHINGTON – Two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are asking the Justice Department to provide information on the whereabouts of Supreme Court justices, saying disclosure would improve transparency at the High Court.
“The judges of our highest jurisdiction are subject to the lowest standards of transparency of all senior federal government officials,” Sens wrote. Sheldon Whitehouse, DR.I., and John Kennedy, R-La., In a June 4 letter. released on Tuesday.
The request is directed to the US Marshals Service, which provides judicial security – including assisting with the security of Supreme Court justices when traveling within the country outside of Washington, DC, senators wrote in the statement. letter.
Outside groups lobbied the court for additional information on the trips. This push received renewed attention after Deputy Judge Antonin Scalia died in 2016 at a Texas ranch owned by a lawyer who previously had cases in court. The owner then told the Washington Post that Scalia was a guest and, like all the other guests on his ranch, had not paid for his stay.
Like other members of the government, judges disclose trips that are reimbursed by outside entities. Associate judge Stephen Breyer, for example, frequently notes his trip to New York to judge the Pritzker Architecture Prize, funded by a sponsoring foundation. Other judges regularly note their trips to speak in law schools.
But outside groups seeking additional transparency say disclosure requirements do not include the cost of travel or other participants. The requirement also exempts judges from disclosing accommodation and entertainment received as “personal hospitality”.
Senators want the Marshals Service, which is part of the Department of Justice, to disclose information on trips made outside the nation’s capital, dates of travel and the cost for the agency to provide security.
Progressive groups lobbied the Supreme Court for additional ethical measures, such as a code of conduct or demanding judges to be more open about their reasons for recusing themselves. Some of these ideas have generated bipartisan interest – although few have gained real momentum in Congress.
Whitehouse is the chairman of the Federal Courts Oversight Subcommittee. Kennedy is the most senior Republican on this subcommittee.
Chief Justice John Roberts asserted in 2011 that Congress did not have the constitutional power to impose a code of ethics on the High Court. Associate Judge Elena Kagan told lawmakers in 2019 that Roberts was weighing a code of conduct, but it’s unclear what progress, if any, was made in the next two years.
Nodding that federal security agencies are generally unwilling to release information about this work, Whitehouse and Kennedy said they would honor requests to remove personally identifiable information about judges and their families.
