>>1221651ProPublica reporting has stoked a growing ethics scandal concerning Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, two older rightwing justices, and their ties to rich rightwing donors with business before the court.
Biden is a former chair of the Senate judiciary committee, who in 1991 presided over Thomas’s hugely controversial confirmation amid accusations of sexual harassment.
He told ProPublica: “I do think at the end of the day, this court, which has been one of the most extreme courts, I still think in the basic fundamentals of rule of law, that they would sustain the rule of law.”
But regarding the brewing ethics scandal, the president said: “The idea that the constitution would in any way prohibit or not encourage the court to have basic rules of ethics that are just on their face reasonable is just not the case.”
Supreme court justices are nominally subject to the same ethics rules as other federal judges but in practice govern themselves.
John Roberts, the chief justice, has resisted calls to testify on ethics matters. Democrats in the Senate have advanced ethics reform but it stands little chance of success, given Republican opposition.
