TBTC ANNOUNCES SUPREME COURT ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT

Lipton-Lubet: “Since the Court refuses to hold itself accountable, it's up to all of us to do so.”

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (February 8, 2022) — Today, Take Back the Court Action Fund announced the Supreme Court Accountability Project — a new effort to shine a spotlight on the myriad conflicts of interest, political activities, and other ethical transgressions and potentially corrupt behaviors committed by Supreme Court justices.

“If this Court has shown us one thing, it’s that the right-wing justices cannot be trusted to act ethically — let alone police themselves,” said Sarah Lipton-Lubet, president of Take Back the Court Action Fund. “The recent spate of Roberts Court scandals is no coincidence — it’s a symptom of the justices’ belief that they can act above the law because they have yet to face any consequences. We can’t allow the justices to continue acting unethically with impunity as they strip away our rights and undermine our democracy. Since the Court refuses to hold itself accountable, it's up to all of us to do so.”

The Supreme Court Accountability Project will educate the public and policymakers about these and other emerging examples of unethical or inappropriate and potentially corrupt behavior by the justices, and about the urgent need for Supreme Court reform. The Project will encourage Congress to fulfill its responsibilities to conduct timely and thorough oversight of the Court — and expose the hypocrisy of members of Congress who refuse to do so while instead misusing their oversight authority for partisan purposes.

Take Back the Court Action Fund launched the project following a barrage of recent reports shedding light on the ethics violations and lack of transparency at the Court, including:

The Court released an overdue report on its sham internal investigation into the 2022 leak of the draft Dobbs decision that made clear the Court exempted the justices from any serious investigation — even as it required lower-ranking Court employees to sign sworn affidavits and turn over laptops and cell phones.

A former colleague of Chief Justice John Roberts’ wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, urged an investigation of millions of dollars of commissions Mrs. Roberts received as a legal recruiter, which included placing lawyers in firms with business before the Court.

Further investigation into the Dobbs leak revealed that some of the justices failed to follow basic security measures — once again appearing to believe that the rules of conduct apply to everyone but themselves.

An anti-abortion activist revealed that he reportedly gained advance knowledge of the 2014 Hobby Lobby decision from a donor to his organization who learned of the decision from Justice Alito.

More details emerged about Clarence Thomas’s wife’s efforts to overthrow the 2020 presidential election, even as Justice Thomas refused to recuse himself from cases related to the election.

Take Back the Court Action Fund has long led the charge to hold the justices accountable. Just last month, the group sent a letter to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees with a list of 18 unanswered questions about the Court’s leak investigation, urging the Committees to get to the bottom of the Court’s decision to exempt the justices from the investigative tactics applied to rank-and-file employees. The group’s work has been featured in reports about the leak investigation by NPR, Bloomberg, BuzzFeed, Business Insider, and more.

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