Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has November already mapped out. Win the Senate, take over the Judiciary, then use both Judiciary committees to go after the Supreme Court.
“He and I are already working together. We are already meeting monthly to plan. Republicans can block my subpoenas in the Senate with a filibuster. They cannot block a Jamie Raskin House subpoena. So if we’re working together, we can do twice the work, and we’re going to put a lot of attention right away into the Supreme Court.”
That is not just a hypothetical. Whitehouse and Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD-8) are the top Democrats on their respective Judiciary committees and are already meeting monthly, building what amounts to a coordinated two-chamber investigative operation with the Court as the target. The structure is in place. Win or lose in November, they are not waiting.
“We need to do a lot of investigating because not enough people know the story about how this court got captured by a bunch of creepy right-wing billionaires.”
He had a specific question about Justice Clarence Thomas: “Did Clarence Thomas ever pay his taxes on the quarter-million-dollar loan forgiveness for his motor coach?” It is the kind of question Whitehouse has been raising for years, without any proof. He is betting that if Democrats win, he will finally have the tools to demand an answer.
That’s not all. He also wants a “proper ethics program” with real fact-finding powers, not a toothless self-policing arrangement, and “retroactive term limits” for the justices already on the bench. The term-limits part is where it gets complicated. Article III gives federal judges life tenure during “good Behaviour.” Whitehouse did not get into that problem in Iowa.
Whitehouse was in Iowa to campaign for Josh Turek, the Democratic nominee running against Rep. Ashley Hinson for the state’s open Senate seat. Iowa is competitive. Turek’s race is the seat Whitehouse needs to get to 51.
They are already meeting and coordinating. If November goes their way, Whitehouse says the Supreme Court is not just on the list but first.
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