Senators Request “All Documents” Related to Supreme Court Justice Travel

Members of our Supreme Court have the least amount of transparency when it comes to financial disclosure. 

Shouldn’t members of the highest court be treated the same as other senior government officials?

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Senator John Kennedy are raising this question.

The Senators asked the U.S. Marshals Service for all documents related to travel by justices over the past ten years.

For some reason, Justices don’t hold themselves to disclosure standards of other federal judges, Cabinet, or members of Congress. https://t.co/7rNWk2x8FN

— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) June 8, 2021

2 senators have asked the @USMarshalsHQ for information on where US #SupremeCourt justices might have traveled, saying it would improve #Transparency. https://t.co/6SCYVHbchQ

— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) June 8, 2021

USA Today has more on the story:

Two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are asking the Justice Department to provide information about where Supreme Court justices have traveled, asserting that the disclosure would improve transparency on the high court.

“The justices of our highest court are subject to the lowest standards of transparency of any senior officials across the federal government,” wrote Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and John Kennedy, R-La., in a June 4 letter made public Tuesday. 

The request is directed at the U.S. Marshals Service, which provides judicial security – including assisting with security for Supreme Court justices when they travel domestically outside of Washington, D.C., the senators wrote in the letter.  

Outside groups have pressed the court for additional travel disclosures. That push received renewed attention after the late Associate Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016 at a Texas ranch owned by an attorney who previously had business at the court. The owner told the Washington Post then that Scalia was a guest and, like all the other guests at his ranch, did not pay for his stay. 

Like others in the government, the justices do disclose trips that are reimbursed by outside entities. Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, for instance, frequently notes his travel to New York to judge the Pritzker Architecture Prize, paid for by a foundation that sponsors that award. Other justice routinely note their travel to speak at law schools. 

But outside groups seeking additional transparency say the disclosure requirements do not include the cost of the trip or other attendees. The requirement also exempts justices from disclosing lodging and entertainment received as “personal hospitality.”  

The senators want the Marshals Service, which is part of the Justice Department, to disclose information about trips taken outside of the nation’s capital, the dates of the trip and the cost to the agency for providing security. 

Progressive groups have been pressing the Supreme Court for additional ethics measures, such as a code of conduct or requiring justices to be more forthcoming about the reasons they recuse themselves from cases. Some of those ideas have generated bipartisan interest – though few of them have gained real momentum in Congress. 

Whitehouse is the chairman of the subcommittee with oversight of federal courts. Kennedy is the top-ranking Republican on that subcommittee. 

Chief Justice John Roberts asserted in 2011 that Congress has no constitutional authority to impose a code of ethics on the high court. Associate Justice Elena Kagan told lawmakers in 2019 that Roberts was weighing a code of conduct but it’s not clear what, if any, progress has been made in the two years since.

The U.S. Marshals Service assists with security for the justices for domestic trips outside of Washington, D.C.

Is someone on the Supreme Court compromised?

Could it be Chief Justice John Roberts?

He asserted in 2011 that Congress has no constitutional authority to impose a code of ethics on the Supreme Court.

Roll Call has more on Roberts’s motion to dismiss financial disclosures:

Whitehouse sent a letter to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on a similar issue in February, along with South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, also a member of the Judiciary Committee.

At that time, Whitehouse and Graham wrote to Roberts that “a legislative solution may be in order to bring the judiciary’s financial disclosure requirements in line with other branches of government if the Court does not address the issue itself.”

Among their questions: What steps the Supreme Court takes to identify or prevent the justices from receiving gifts, travel or hospitality from those who may have business before the court, and what plans the Supreme Court has to make justices’ financial disclosures more accessible to the public.

Roberts has not responded to that letter, a Whitehouse spokesman said.

Justice Roberts was allegedly a frequent flier on Epstein’s Lolita Express, which may be his reason for not wanting financial disclosures.

John Roberts is a fairly common name and this name appears on Epstein's Lolita Express flight log.

Should Chief Justice Roberts clarify his relationship with Jeffery Epstein? pic.twitter.com/FtdNHYOwPJ

— Sam Bardo (@SamBardo1) July 5, 2020

As @LLinWood just tweeted, its high time the American people find out if Justice John Roberts is the same person who flew on the Jeffrey Epstein "Lolita express" listed on the flight logs under the name John Roberts

— Steve o/b/o Patrick (@rhainman) June 18, 2020

Would that be the John Roberts that FLEW ON LOLITA EXPRESS TO A EVIL TROPICAL ISLAND? That John Roberts who was on the FLIGHT LOG? Just asking.

— Louis Deal (@LouisDeal1) October 1, 2020

He's compromised.

Who do you think the John Roberts on Lolita Express manifest was?

It wasn't the the Fox News reporter. pic.twitter.com/yujqkPvpeV

— ᚨᚾᛞᚱᛖ ᛒᚢᛖ (@BueAndre) October 20, 2020

If you have nothing to hide, let the light shine!

What type of financial disclosure do you think the Senators are looking for in the documents from the U.S. Marshals Service?