Senator Chris Murphy has dismissed claims by the supreme court justice, Samuel Alito, that the Senate has “no authority” to create a code of conduct for the court as “stunningly wrong”.

The Connecticut Democrat made those remarks in an interview on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, adding that Alito “should know that more than anyone else because his seat on the supreme court exists only because of an act passed by Congress”.

“It is Congress that establishes the number of justices on the supreme court,” Murphy said. “It is Congress that has passed in the past requirements for justices to disclose certain information, and so it is just wrong on the facts to say that Congress doesn’t have anything to do with the rules guiding the supreme court.”

  • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    If you go by the strict interpretation of the constitution, the SC isn’t even the highest court. It’s only the interstate court. They appointed themselves the highest court in a case.

    "The court’s power and prestige grew substantially during the Marshall Court (1801–1835).[17] Under Marshall, the court established the power of judicial review over acts of Congress,[18] including specifying itself as the supreme expositor of the Constitution (Marbury v. Madison)[19][20] "

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States

    So they basically said “I’m in charge because I said so”. That’s precarious at best, and it would just take Congress to say “no you’re not” for it to fall apart.