Senate Judiciary issues subpoenas to Leo, Crow in SCOTUS ethics probe as Republicans boycott

Senate Judiciary Republicans walked out of the committee to boycott a vote authorizing subpoenas for information from conservative activists and donors about their ties to conservative Supreme Court justices.

The panel voted 11-0 to authorize subpoenas for conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo and Texas billionaire Harlan Crow on their close personal and financial relationships with some justices, with no Republicans left in the room besides ranking member Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Graham exited once the vote was underway and did not vote.

“They think we're gonna roll over and come back sometime later and try all over again and face the same limitations. You know, there reaches a point where there has to be a vote. They walked out on it. That's their decision,” Durbin said.

The subpoenas are part of an ongoing investigation into ethics at the Supreme Court and how undisclosed gifts and personal ties between major activists, donors and justices may have granted access to individuals and groups with business before the court.

Graham called the Democrats’ effort to subpoena Leo and Crow “this jihad you’ve been on against the Roberts’ court.”

Leo, in a statement, said, "Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats have been destroying the Supreme Court; now they are destroying the Senate. I will not cooperate with this unlawful campaign of political retribution."

And in a separate statement, Crow spokesperson Michael J. Zona said: “The Judiciary Committee Democrats’ violation of the Committee’s own rules to issue an invalid subpoena further demonstrates the unlawful and partisan nature of this investigation."

Durbin acknowledged that Republicans will question the legitimacy of the vote and whether a quorum was present given their quick exit from the committee room.

“I would do the same in their position,” Durbin said exiting the meeting.

Republicans made the rare move to invoke the Senate’s “two-hour rule” which forced the committee to finish its business by noon, two hours after the Senate convened. The move was a procedural play to run out the clock and delay, once again, a vote on the subpoenas, which Republicans call an overreach of authority.

“We started the roll call vote before noon, which of course under the two-hour rule was the limitation on our action today,” Durbin said.

The subpoenas would be subject to a filibuster on the Senate floor and do not have the 60 votes needed for approval.

Republicans had called for debate on nominees and engaged in a lengthy colloquy about judicial nominees. Graham questioned multiple times during the markup if they would even have time for the subpoena vote.

Nearly two hundred amendments were on the agenda for Thursday’s markup, all from Republicans in opposition to the Crow and Leo subpoenas.

Heading into the markup, Democrats had been resigned to a lengthy consideration of the GOP’s 177 proposals.

“We will take them up and vote on them, either defeat them or table them or defer them,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said on his way into the markup.

But Republicans invoking the two hour rule meant that not a single amendment was taken up.

Earlier in the day Republicans tried to shout down Durbin after he limited debate on judicial nominees up for their third round of consideration by the panel, drowning out the clerk calling the roll. The markup exploded in yelling.

“Mr. Chairman, you just destroyed one of the most important committees in the United States Senate,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told Durbin. “Congratulations on destroying the United States Senate Judiciary Committee.”

The Illinois Democrat eventually explained the precedent he was acting under, citing Lindsey Graham and Chuck Grassley’s leadership of the committee, during which debate was limited on the nomination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and on an immigration bill.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.).

Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.