for a minor under his care received by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, but not disclosed, have left some lawmakers to consider steps to increase ethics requirements to restore trust in the Supreme Court.
"The first step is going to be for the judicial conference, the other judges, to put some constraints around the Supreme Court's behavior and treat the Supreme Court the way all other federal judges are treated. And that happens inside the judiciary," Whitehouse said. Whitehouse added that, if necessary, Congress could step in to pass their own laws regulating the Court.
Former Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., disagreed with Whitehouse, telling"Meet the Press" that the Supreme Court is different by its nature as a body established by the Constitution. Both Blunt and Whitehouse put the current furor over the Supreme Court in the context of the increasingly bitter partisan fighting over the makeup of the judiciary in recent decades.
"We saw back then that there was no amount of persuasion that could convince Republicans to vote for D.C. circuit Democratic nominees. And that’s why Harry had to do what he had to do," Whitehouse said.