More than 85 Advocacy Organizations Urge Senate to Confront Corrupting Supreme Court Influence & Issue Subpoenas to Harlan Crow & Leonard Leo

Washington, D.C. – Today, more than 85 advocacy organizations representing labor, women’s health, environmental activists, and more joined together in calling for the Senate to ramp up efforts to combat court corruption and issue subpoenas the Judiciary Committee approved last year to Leonard Leo and Harlan Crow, two wealthy benefactors at the center of the far right's capture of the Supreme Court.

In a sign-on letter led by Court Accountability and United for Democracy, the organizations also called on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin to launch a full-scale investigation into allegations of ethical violations by Supreme Court justices and advance a comprehensive anti-corruption bill to protect the rights and freedoms of the American people.

“The extraordinary ethics violations and lawbreaking at the Supreme Court have severe impacts on the credibility of our judiciary and the very principles our country was founded upon,” said Alex Aronson, executive director of Court Accountability. “We are facing an unprecedented judicial crisis that requires bold, immediate action. While the Senate has taken important measures already, it needs to go further to hold corrupt justices accountable and confront this urgent threat to our democracy.”

In the last year, investigative reporting has uncovered numerous incidents of ethical and legal misconduct at the Supreme Court - including conflicts of interest, inappropriate financial ties, concealed acceptance of gifts and travel in violation of federal law, and much more - that undermine the credibility and legitimacy of the Court. Recent polling from

Hart Research shows just 40% of voters express a great deal or fair amount of confidence in the current court, while 33% have little or no confidence. Nearly 80% of voters say it is very or fairly important for Congress to take action to raise the Supreme Court’s ethical standards.

In the face of this growing judicial crisis, the letter also calls for the Senate majority to convene a set of hearings to investigate and uncover the full extent of corrupt influences on the Supreme Court, the effect that corruption has on the work of the Court, and its increasingly devastating impact on the lives of everyday Americans.