Lawmakers Seek Investigation of Judges Who Criticized Supreme Court

Source: New York Times

Lawmakers Seek Investigation of Judges Who Criticized Supreme Court

The Republican leaders of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees told Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. that anonymous judges who responded to a Times questionnaire may have violated ethics rules.



Nov. 6, 2025, 12:45 a.m. ET

The Republican chairmen of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees appealed to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Wednesday to look into whether federal judges who responded to a New York Times questionnaire with criticism of the Supreme Court had violated their ethics obligations. ... "We are deeply concerned that these public attacks on the court from sitting federal judges damage the public's faith and confidence in our judicial system," Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio wrote in a letter to Mr. Roberts. "When judges call into question the legitimacy of their own branch of government, they erode faith in the institution itself."

The letter comes weeks after The Times published an article in which dozens of federal judges accused the Supreme Court of mishandling its emergency docket, complaining that its orders were too brief, opaque and vague for the lower courts to follow -- particularly in the many cases where the justices issued emergency orders, but offered no reasoning for their decision. ... Though the several dozen judges who responded to the questionnaire represent only a fraction of the federal bench, it is exceedingly rare that so many would sound off about their frustrations with the Supreme Court -- especially in a newspaper, even if the complaints were anonymous. (One even likened the relationship between their judicial district and the highest court to a "war zone.&quot

Mr. Grassley and Mr. Jordan seized on that as they raised concerns, pointing out that the code of conduct for federal judges states that judges "should act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary," and "should not make public comment on the merits of a matter pending or impending in any court."

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"Whatever one thinks of judges participating in such a survey, they're sending a warning that we (and the justices, especially) should all take seriously," wrote Stephen I. Vladeck, an expert on federal courts and a professor at Georgetown University, wrote in a recent blog post.

Karoun Demirjian is a breaking news reporter for The Times.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/us/politics/supreme-court-grassley-jordan-investigation.html

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Reposted by Mike Masnick
https://bsky.app/profile/mmasnick.bsky.social

BREAKING: Men who can’t even keep the government open write letter to a third man, whose high court regularly publishes anonymous orders, to complain about anonymous criticism from lower court judges.

— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) 2025-11-06T06:18:08.128Z

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Chris Geidner
‪@chrisgeidner.bsky.social‬

BREAKING: Men who can’t even keep the government open write letter to a third man, whose high court regularly publishes anonymous orders, to complain about anonymous criticism from lower court judges.

Lawmakers Seek
Investigation of Judges Who Criticized Supreme Court
The Republican leaders of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees told Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. that anonymous judges who responded to a Times questionnaire may have violated ethics rules.
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November 6, 2025 at 1:18 AM
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Article: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...

— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) 2025-11-06T06:18:59.795Z

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Chris Geidner
‪@chrisgeidner.bsky.social‬

Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/us/politics/supreme-court-grassley-jordan-investigation.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Lawmakers Seek Investigation of Judges Who Criticized Supreme Court
www.nytimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:19 AM
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