Dem
51
GOP
49
All the stories about Supreme Court justices taking money from billionaires are starting to wake Democrats up. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD) are about to introduce legislation that would make it illegal for a justice to accept any gift worth more than $50. Would this be constitutional? Ocasio-Cortez has a B.A. in international relations, so she is probably not the best person to ask for opinions on abstruse questions of constitutional law. On the other hand, Raskin graduated magna cum laude from the Harvard Law School and was later a professor of constitutional law at American University for 25 years before becoming majority whip in the Maryland state Senate and then being elected to the House, where he is ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. He knows the Constitution a lot better than many judges, among them Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. And he thinks it would be fine.
Will the bill pass? Of course not. It won't even come up for a vote. But if the Democrats win control of the House in November, Ocasio-Cortez and Raskin can reintroduce it and it might well pass. Just getting it out there and having the media discuss it could be a good start. One can argue whether $50 is a good limit. This means that long-time actual friends can't even give a justice a new iPhone. It might be an easier sell to set the limit, at say, $1,000. Justices make $265,000 ($277,000 for the chief), so a gift of even $1,000 is not likely to be enough to buy a vote.
Over in the Senate there is also some action. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has written a bill that would require the Supreme Court to draw up and enforce a binding code of ethics. It would also require more stringent disclosure of gifts, travel, and income. It passed the Judiciary Committee by a party-line vote, but faces a filibuster on the floor if it comes up for a vote. Still, forcing Republicans to vote against a code of ethics could be useful on the campaign trail. (V)