Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) backed President Joe Biden’s sharp criticisms of the Supreme Court in an interview Sunday, specifically calling out Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, whom he said was on the “grift.”
“I think it would be irresponsible for the president not to talk about the fact that this court is becoming brazenly corrupt and brazenly political,” Murphy told host Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “It’s up to the American people this election to do something about that. It’s also up to Congress to step up and pass a code of conduct, a code of ethical conduct, for this court before it’s too late.”
At his star-studded fundraiser in Los Angeles on Saturday evening, Biden railed against the Supreme Court as “so far out of step” and warned that “one of the scariest parts” of a second term for presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump is the potential appointment of two more justices to the bench. He made a crack at Alito by saying Trump would appoint more justices “flying flags upside down” and referred to Thomas’ arguments that the court “should reconsider” its past contraception and same-sex rulings, according to pool reports.
Murphy stood behind Biden’s comments, referencing expensive gifts and luxury travel expenses Republican megadonor Harlan Crow and others have lavished on Thomas over the years — as well two controversial flag displays associated with Jan. 6 flown at Alito’s homes.
“There’s a crisis on the court,” Murphy said. “What Justice Thomas is engaged in is just a grift, right? He’s got a major political player on the outside who absolutely has political and business interests at the court paying off a justice.”
“Justice Alito is openly displaying affiliation with political causes in public,” he added.
Biden has been reluctant to publicly address concerns of judicial ethics regarding the Supreme Court justices. The president has avoided directly addressing the Alito scandal out of fear that his attacks of the judiciary could be seen as politically motivated and appear too close to Trump’s own tactics, POLITICO reported last month. He has also sidestepped questions about whether Thomas should recuse himself from Jan. 6 cases brought before the Supreme Court.
Some Democrats have disagreed with Biden’s approach.
Recently, Biden has ramped up his focus on the Supreme Court, using the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 and the three Trump-appointed conservative justices who ruled in support of it as a foothold to mobilize voters around reproductive rights.
While Thomas and Alito were both appointed much before Trump’s presidency, both have helped maintain the court’s 6-3 conservative supermajority, including in last week’s decision to nix a ban on bump stocks for guns that was enacted by the Trump administration.
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