McConnell urges Senate Democrats to refrain from interfering with Supreme Court matters

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) has criticized Senate Democrats for planning to issue subpoenas to two billionaires and a conservative activist due to their close relationships with conservative Supreme Court justices. McConnell called this move “totally inappropriate” and urged his Democratic colleagues to back off. The Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), announced that his committee will subpoena two businessmen who have extended personal hospitality to Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. McConnell expressed his disapproval of targeting private citizens without any legislative purpose during a press conference on Tuesday. Durbin and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Federal Courts, revealed that the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote to authorize subpoenas for billionaire real estate magnate Harlan Crow and mortgage company owner Robin Arkley II. These individuals have reportedly provided hospitality to Thomas and Alito. Durbin also announced that the committee will issue a subpoena for Leonard Leo, the leader of the Federalist Society, who went on vacation with Thomas and helped organize Alito’s fishing vacation. Durbin described the subpoenas as the next step in the committee’s ongoing investigation of the ethics of the Supreme Court. He stated that they were necessary after Crow, Leo, and Arkley refused to comply with committee requests. Durbin is confident that there will be enough Democratic votes in the committee to approve the subpoenas. Durbin and Whitehouse defended the use of subpoenas as a means to compel cooperation with their panel’s investigation into the Supreme Court’s ethics. They argued that there are no other options available due to the defiance of legitimate oversight requests. They also mentioned that the Judiciary Committee had previously advanced a bill in July that would require Supreme Court Justices to adopt a code of conduct.