The Partisan Divide in Addressing Supreme Court Ethics

Democratic lawmakers have recently criticized conservative Supreme Court justices over ethical matters, particularly Justice Clarence Thomas, who allegedly received gifts from a Republican mega-donor and failed to report them. However, Democrats have overlooked issues involving liberal justices in the past, including proximity to Democratic mega-donors, omitting trips and reimbursements, failing to recuse themselves from cases involving companies in which they had financial stakes, and cases concerning issues they had worked on in the past. Retired Justice Stephen Breyer, who maintained close ties to the wealthy Chicago-based Pritzker family, took more trips than any other Supreme Court justice from 2004 to 2018, many of which were supported by the Pritzker family, known for their generous contributions to Democratic causes.