{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://hankjohnson.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-johnson-pushes-passage-scert-act-supreme-court-whistleblower", "Rep. Johnson Pushes Passage of SCERT Act In Supreme Court Whistleblower Hearing", "2022-12-08", "2022", "2022-12", "Democrat", "House", "GA", "Henry C. \"Hank\" Johnson, Jr.", "J000288", "hankjohnson.house.gov", "hankjohnson", "https://hankjohnson.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04) pushed for passage of H.R. 7647, the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act during a House Judiciary Committee hearing entitled, \u201cUndue Influence: \u2018Operation Higher Court\u2019 and Politicking at SCOTUS.\u201d\n\n[WATCH VIDEO]\n\nThe hearing followed a bombshell report by The New York Times that exposed how a group of conservative activists coordinated to befriend, indulge, and influence Supreme Court justices. The committee heard testimony from whistleblower Rev. Robert Schenck, who was the subject of the Times reporting. Reverend Schenck told the committee about how his decades-long influence campaign, aimed specifically at Supreme Court justices, successfully and intentionally exploited the high court\u2019s lack of meaningful ethics and transparency rules.\n\n\u201cWhat these reports show is nothing less than systemic corruption at the Supreme Court,\u201d said Rep. Johnson. \u201cFrom time immemorial, the Court\u2019s mantra has been: \u2018just trust us.\u2019 It\u2019s clear from these leaks, lack of recusals, conflicts of interest and naked activism from the bench \u2013 they cannot be left to police themselves.\u201d\n\nRep. Johnson is chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet. The SCERT Act will require justices of the Supreme Court to adopt and follow a code of ethics, raise transparency standards on gifts and travel, update recusal standards and rules and require disclosure lobbying and dark money interests before the Court. The bill was reported favorably out of the Judiciary Committee in May; Rep. Johnson remains hopeful it will receive a full floor vote before the end of the 117th Congress.\n\nThe Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act (H.R. 7647) will:\n\n\u2022 Require justices of the Supreme Court to write and enforce a code of conduct.\n\n\u2022 Require justices adhere to\u2014at minimum\u2014the same gift/travel/income disclosure standards as members of Congress.\n\nRecusal reforms aimed at the recent ethics scandals:\n\no Lobbying on the judge or justice\u2019s behalf: Recusal would be required if a party or affiliate lobbied or spent substantial funds to get the justice/judge confirmed.\n\no Giving the judge or justice income, gifts, or reimbursements: Recusal would be required if the justice/judge or spouse or minor child or a privately held entity under their control received income/gifts/reimbursements from a party or affiliate in the case within 6 years of the judge being assigned to the case.\n\no Duty to know: Impose a clear duty for the judge/justice to know their and their family\u2019s financial interests and interests that could be substantially affected by case before them.\n\no Duty to notify: Require the judge/justice to inform the parties of any circumstances that could reasonably require recusal.\n\no Review by other justices and judges: Ensures that the full Court can protect the integrity of its own proceedings by creating a path for full-Court consideration of a recusal motion. For lower courts, ensures that recusal motions can be considered by a randomly selected panel drawn from across the judiciary.\n\no Public notice: Requires brief explanations of judges\u2019 recusal decisions to be posted online.\n\nDisclosure of lobbying, gifts, and payments by parties:\n\n\u2022 Requires the Court to issues rules requiring all parties and amici to list any lobbying or substantial expenditures in support of the justice\u2019s nomination, confirmation, or appointment; and any gifts, income, or reimbursements made to the justices within two years of the start of the proceeding.\n\n\u2022 Dark money amicus disclosure: Requires parties that file amicus briefs to disclose their major sources of funding and authorizes the courts to strike amicus briefs that would require a judge to recuse.\n\nOpening Statement of Subcommittee Chairman Henry C. \u201cHank\u201d Johnson, Jr.\n\nHouse Committee on the Judiciary\n\nHearing on \u201cUndue Influence: \u2018Operation Higher Court\u2019 and Politicking at the Supreme Court\u201d\n\nDec. 8, 2022, at 12 PM\n\n2141 Rayburn House Office Bldg.\n\nGood morning, everyone. I want to thank Chairman Nadler for holding this important hearing on such short notice. I also want to thank the witnesses, particularly Rev. Schenck, for being here with us today. For years I have been warning about an ethical crisis at the Supreme Court. I have introduced legislation to address it\u2014more than one piece of legislation. I have chaired hearings on it in my Courts Subcommittee\u2014more than one hearing. I have spoken about it on television, online, in person, to news anchors, experts, and activists.\n\nI have been raising the alarm.\n\nAnd after almost two Congresses, here\u2019s where we are: 2022 has seen more scandals, of greater magnitude, seeping out from One First Street than in any other single year in recent memory.\n\nYet what has been done? Unfortunately, we haven\u2019t seen action from the Supreme Court itself. Certainly, they have every reason to want to address this. Their job approval rating is the lowest it\u2019s been in the Court\u2019s entire history. Record numbers of Americans think the Court is too powerful, too partisan, and far too unaccountable. And public opinion matters to the Court because it is the public who must respect and abide by the Court\u2019s decisions, especially ones they may disagree with.\n\nThat the Court itself is unwilling to hold itself to standards equal even to those for lower-court judges, Members of Congress, and the executive branch makes matters worse. It took pressure from Congressional appropriators just to get the Court to admit it was even considering an ethics code. That was three years ago. I\u2019d say it\u2019s been only silence since then, but that would not be true; it\u2019s been scandals, it\u2019s been speeches behind closed doors, it\u2019s been secret dinners with secret donors.\n\nThe Court either cannot or will not do this on its own\u2014so we must step in. The Constitution\u2014and the American people, for that matter\u2014have entrusted this body to make the laws necessary to preserve the national wellbeing. A nation whose highest court was secretly and successfully infiltrated for over two decades by activists wining and dining their way to the legal outcomes they want is not the hallmark of a healthy nation.\n\nThe answer here is not revolutionary: impose a written code of ethics, require justices to report more gifts more often, and ensure the justices are not deciding cases for their friends and families. My Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act, H.R. 7647, would do all of this. We must enact it this Congress.\n\nI have every expectation that what we hear today will reinforce the already strong case for serious ethics reform at the Supreme Court. I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the dais to hear this testimony in the appropriate context: as only the most recent of the Court\u2019s many ethical lapses. I hope you will be moved to stand up, do your constitutional duty, and do what we must do to keep our nation healthy and strong not only in the short term but for the next 250 years.\n\nAgain, I thank all the witnesses for being here today, especially Rev. Schenck for shining a bright light on the need for Supreme Court ethics reform. Thank you, and I yield back.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T03:32:05Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://hankjohnson.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-johnson-pushes-passage-scert-act-supreme-court-whistleblower"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7550960183143616, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}