McConnell: Supreme Court Can Police Itself. No Appeal To Heaven Required.
‘The legal profession is in distress. Unethical behavior by attorneys serving political causes unfortunately knows no party or faction. It is up to the legal profession to police itself. And in the end, this means that courts - including the Supreme Court - must police their officers. We don’t need to appeal to heaven to fix this problem. Just to the Supreme Court’s power to police the ethical practice of law among the members of its Bar.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the Supreme Court:
“The Supreme Court term is about to end, which means it’s time for Democrats and their media allies to bully and harass the Justices.
“The most recent example of this is the risible attack leveled against Justice Alito for his wife’s flags.
“I have nothing to say about those attacks themselves because they’re so profoundly unserious, but I do have an observation about how some of the attacks have been leveled.
“Three of our colleagues have taken it upon themselves to write to the Chief Justice and demand Justice Alito’s recusal in cases. One went so far as to tell the Chief that he should strip Justices Alito and Thomas of the ability to write majority opinions unless they recuse from the cases liberals don’t want them hearing.
“This goes beyond the standard disgraceful bullying my Democratic colleagues have perfected. Recusal is a judicial act.
“These Senators are telling the Chief Justice, privately, to change the course of pending litigation. This is known as ex parte communication and it is frowned upon by the ABA’s [Rules of Professional Conduct].
“This matters because at least two of these colleagues of ours, the Junior Senator from Rhode Island and the Senior Senator from Connecticut, seem to be members of the Supreme Court Bar. If so, they are, therefore, potentially engaged in unethical professional conduct before the Court.
“They may be under the mistaken impression that their persistent attempts to threaten the federal courts are a permissible use of their legislative office.
“But they are Officers of the Court and bound by a different set of rules than a mere Senator. These Rules provide for discipline against those who engage in ‘conduct unbecoming’ an officer of the Court.
“I might suggest to our colleagues that unethical ex parte communications seeking to change the course of pending litigation is such conduct. And that the Court should take any remedial action it feels to be appropriate.
“The legal profession is in distress. Unethical behavior by attorneys serving political causes unfortunately knows no party or faction. It is up to the legal profession to police itself. And in the end, this means that courts – including the Supreme Court – must police their officers.
“We don’t need to appeal to heaven to fix this problem. Just to the Supreme Court’s power to police the ethical practice of law among the members of its Bar.”
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