The Supreme Court is facing the most public scrutiny it has seen in decades, following revelations that Justice Clarence Thomas last week.
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A “charitable explanation” for Durbin’s slow-walking and deference to the court is that he “would like to lay a marker down that he gave Roberts repeated opportunities to clean up his own house and he’s sort of reluctantly being pressed into conducting his own investigation because the judicial branch won’t tend to its own affairs,” Fallon said.
“Instead of declining to call Clarence Thomas to testify because you think he won’t comply, call him to testify,” Lipton-Lubet said. “Let him refuse. Let the people see that. Doing that can illustrate the problem better than half a dozen sternly worded statements.”
But if the committee’s efforts turn into “a box-checking exercise” that just looks to “toss the hot potato into Roberts’ lap,” Fallon says, “that would be a failure.”
