On Sunday (June 25), in an interview that aired on MSNBC, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA.) described the actions of the Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito as “shameful,” pointing to the pair’s “cavalier” demeanor about ethics.
In her appearance on “Inside with Jen Psaki,” Pelosi said that she believed that the Supreme Court had “the opportunity to write some ethics rules for themselves,” but insisted that she hadn’t seen any action being taken there.
However, she used the opportunity to give “credit to Senator [Sheldon] Whitehouse (D-R.I.),” saying that “with the majority in the Senate,” Whitehouse could direct what should be done to establish “integrity on the court” before pivoting to how “shameful” Thomas and Alito’s actions had “been so cavalier about their violations.”
When Psaki queried Pelosi about the reforms that need to be taken in response to the recent reports that Alito and Thomas had received gifts from influential billionaires that would have cases before the Court, Pelosi suggested term limits should be implemented, followed by the ethics rules.
Pelosi’s comments came amid intense scrutiny and devastating allegations of ethical misconduct against Thomas and Alito.
Alito became the latest Supreme Court Justice to be the recipient of such criticism that only amplified after he admitted in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that he had accepted a seat on a private plane that GOP donor and billionaire hedge fund owner Paul Singer paid for.
In the op-ed, Alito also admitted to later participating in multiple cases where a subsidiary of Singer’s fund was a party.
The op-ed came before an explosive ProPublica report about the incident.
Weeks before, Thomas had also faced criticism due to a report by ProPublica.
The report revealed that Harlan Crow, a prominent donor to conservative causes, funded Justice Thomas’ vacations, incuding trips on Crow’s private jet and 162-foot yacht.
